章 9: Chapter 9

Kara looked at the drawing in front of her and sighed, she had finally finished designing her prosthetic eye.

In truth, she had been procrastinating for nearly a week now, refusing to work on the thing and hoping for an alternative while hanging out with Kori.

Unfortunately, Zatara himself didn't have any magical means of accelerating her recovery and, even when she got her hands on Nth metal, it would still take a long time for her to regenerate the eye, far too long to justify staying crippled, especially when she could easily remedy that using the Fortress' capabilities.

Her cousin didn't mind her using his home away from home, he barely stayed at the place anyway, and Kara felt comfortable inside the crystalline building, among the Kryptonian sunstone computers and equipment, it kind of reminded her of home.

Not that she didn't enjoy human housing but, after living so long on Krypton, the lack of crystals around felt just a little bit odd.

Kara had debated for a long time about what to put on her eye, laser eyes or x-ray visions were classics, but she already had those, in fact, she already had pretty much everything in her own biological eye, there was no need to improve it.

If she was even capable of doing so, that is. She had been raised to be a member of the science guild, but she was still only an apprentice.

More than that, she didn't want to get used to having anything special in her eye, since it was most likely going to be the first thing she healed when she could.

So she went with a disposable device, a modified version of the sunstone programming on her leg. Instead of teleporting her back to the fortress, the eye would start the teleporting sequence and then fail, catastrophically.

The resulting explosion wouldn't be the biggest and, considering she wanted to be a hero, that was a good thing. Instead, it would break the space around itself, shattering everything caught in the explosion regardless of how tough it was or what defenses it put up.

It probably wasn't the best idea to carry around something so dangerous but, if she was gonna carry a secret weapon, it damn well was gonna be something that hit harder than just her fists.

Sending a copy of the design to the Fortress AI, she ordered it produced and stretched her arms above her head, laying back against the chair. Just as she was getting ready to leave, her uncle's hologram appeared by her side.

"Miss Zor-El, are you certain you wish for such a device to be produced?"

"I did send it to you didn't I?" Kara sighed and got to her feet. "Don't worry, I made sure to put plenty of safety precautions on it, it has proximity sensors and can't even detonate too close to me or Kal-El, or if the sensor fails."

"Very well, it will be ready by tomorrow."

"Say, how is the data recovery from my damaged ship?" Kara took the chance to ask. She still found it extremely uncomfortable to talk with the image of her dead uncle, so she had been avoiding getting the information.

"It is going well. Despite how damaged it was, the Fortress is recovering and decoding more information every day and it should be 85% done in another 29 hours."

"What about the remaining 15%?"

"The last 15% of the information was either permanently lost or will require significant computational efforts to restore, there can be no expected time for completion."

Walking away from the computer, she cracked her neck and left the room. Entering the main hall, she briefly stopped in front of the giant statues of Jor-El and Lara Lor-Van. "Did Kal-El build this?"

"No, the statue was part of Jor-El's original design for the Fortress."

"Heh, uncle was a good man but very prideful, it was just like him to make a giant statue holding our entire planet in his hand, no wonder he was friends with General Zod." She considered the figure for a little longer before shaking her head and turning away. "What kind of information was in it anyway? Just a copy of Kal-El's?"

"No, Kal-El's ship was filled with information about culture, art, religion and civilian technologies, Jor-El considered them more important and more fitting for his young son." The hologram told her as he pretended to walk beside her, "Your ship's data is far more focused on the less idealized side of Krypton, military technology, war records, political information about the sector. I believe it was Jor-El's intent for you to safeguard such information until such time as you felt prudent to allow Kal-El to see it."

Well now, that was interesting. Kara already started to daydream of a Kryptonian war armor fully protecting her from anything and enhancing her power even further while wielding futuristic weapons.

"Can I see the military designs then?" She tried to keep her voice neutral, but there was no mistaking the eagerness there.

"Unfortunately not, as Kal-El is now of age, and was the one to activate the Fortress, he has been recognized as the current head of the El house, as a result, the clearance for looking at the information has automatically passed to him."

Nooooooooo, her army of modular sunstone military drones!

Shoulders dropping, KAra made a mental note to ask her cousin for the information and checked the time on her new phone. Kori would be meeting the other sidekicks today and Kara wanted to accompany her halfway there to show her support.

Waking into the huge cylindrical chamber, she selected Fawcett City and activated the Zeta-tube, feeling the Zeta-bean hitting her body, she frowned for a few seconds, next thing she knew, she was stepping out of a door in a dark alley.

Taking a second to see if anybody was watching her, Kara put on a simple blank mask just to make sure and floated up, flying towards her apartment.

The building had been damaged at Amber's rampage but, lucky for her, it was minor, and it was already in working order after only two weeks of repairs. A miracle since almost everyone who did such repairs was busy fixing the worst of the damage on the city.

"Hey, Kori, I'm home!" She called out as she stepped inside from the open window.

"Hello, Friend Kara." Kori yelled, she was holding a bag of cookies in one hand and applying a large coating of mustard on top of them. "Please, would you care for a cookie? This yellow condiment is truly delightful when put on top of it."

"Nope." Kara grimaced, she may have wanted one, but that was before it was covered with mustard. "So, are you excited to meet the other sidekicks?"

"Exultation! Joy! I am indeed most exhilarated to meet the others!" She almost screamed as her hair started floating behind her and the tips started catching fire. "X'hal's breath, I am late, hold this Friend Kara, I have to get ready. Princess Diana is going to be here at any moment!"

Dashing away towards her bedroom, Kori started throwing her civilian clothes around as she rushed to get ready. Kara followed after her, giving some calming words.

"Don't worry, I'm sure Wonder Woman would wait a few minutes for you to get ready. Besides, even if you are a little late, it's not like it's an official event, there's no deadline." Then she considered who her friend was meeting and decided to disperse some sagely advice. "And remember Kori, a nickname is a good way to close the distance and become fast friends, if you're not certain how to give someone a nickname, you can use someone's characteristics like, for example, calling Robin SHORTY or little guy, something along those lines."

Floating out of her room, Kori's hair trailed a fiery aura behind her as she finished adjusting her superhero costume; her armor was very close to Wonder Woman's. but it left Kori's midriff exposed and didn't have the bracelets. Kara still found it strange that she didn't have a belly button. "Apologies, Friend Kara, what did you just say?"

"Nevermind, it was nothing important." Kara sighed. Sabotaging Kori's ability to make friends wouldn't sit well with her.

"Do you think they are going to like me?" Kori asked, her hair finally going back to normal as her feet touched the floor.

"I'm sure they're going to love you Kori, you have nothing to worry about."

"Thank you." The girl started fidgeting making Kara give her a hug.

"Come on, let's go." Kara put her mask back on.

They flew out of the apartment and back towards the Zeta-tube, this time stepping out on Washington DC half an hour before the meeting date.

"Good to see you're here on time." Said Wonder Woman, she was waiting for them beside the Zeta-Tube exit, her shoulder leaning on the building and her full gear on. "Good to see you too Kara."

Kara nodded at the woman. "Say, does your invitation for a spar have a date of expiration? Kori and Kal-El are still teaching me how to fight, but I'd like to test myself later."

"It doesn't." Wonder Woman smiled. "But since you're a beginner, perhaps you should come with us to Themyscira one of those days. I'm sure Starfire and Superman are great teachers, but you'd benefit from a larger pool of opponents."

"Really? I'm finally meeting Kal-El's parents later this week, but I'd love to go."

The island of the Amazons was one of the places that still intrigued her. Kara really wanted to go but, at the same time, she was kind of afraid she'd draw the attention of the gods.

Also, she had been a man in her previous life; could she step into the island without earning someone's ire? Rao she really hoped so.

"Please, are you sure you do not want to attend the meeting with me?" Kori asked, holding her hands.

"Another day, Starfire." Kara shook her head and called her by her superhero name for the first time, making the girl beam. "Besides, you know I have a meeting later."

"Well, this is where we part ways then." Wonder Woman clapped Kara on the shoulder. "Do take my offer one of those days; we'd love to have Kori's friend over."

Seeing Wonder Woman's affectionate gaze towards her new protégée, Kara had to laugh. Yep, the woman had fallen for Kori's infectious personality alright.

With another hug, Kori and Wonder Woman flew away towards the Hall of Justice, leaving Kara alone once again.

Kara took the Zeta-Tube back to Fawcett City and grabbed the backpack she had left at the house before flying up again.

Instead of taking the Zeta-Tube towards her meeting, Kara found a deserted place and quickly ascended high above the clouds and beyond the sights of almost everyone. She didn't want to leave an electronic trail and, despite her technological skills, she was pretty sure she couldn't erase her details from the Zeta-tube network.

DC's technological geniuses were such bullshit.

Soon, she started approaching Gotham City and dropped beside a little gas station just outside the city limits.

She doubted Batman would have a way to track individual flyers entering his city but, seeing as he fought such beings fairly often, and was… well Batman, she wouldn't put it past him. It was better to be safe than sorry anyway.

Pulling out her burner phone, she called a cab.

Almost an hour later, she stepped out of the car in an alleyway close to Catwoman's bar. The establishment was still closed but, using her x-ray vision, she saw the woman sitting alone in one of the tables. Selina also had a lead box below the table and another, much smaller one, in her pocket.

Well that was the problem with having such well known weakness, people who were going to deal with you tended to acquire it.

At least it was a fairly obvious thing, after all, she may not be able to see inside a lead box, but she could certainly see the lead box itself and it was pretty easy to guess what was inside.

Kara really didn't know how her cousin kept getting surprised on all those comics. With the possible exception of Lex Luthor, people didn't build everything around them with lead, so it was pretty easy to see when something was suspicious even if he couldn't see what exactly it was.

With only an effort of will, she reconfigured the sunstone inside her new leg and activated the environmental shield inside it in order to block radiation. It had the unfortunate side-effect of also blocking most of the beneficial effects of solar radiation, but she was working to remedy that.

Maybe then Kal-El would accept his own version of the shield instead of being stubborn about it.

She understood that blocking his sunlight absorption would decrease his power, but he had been living under the yellow sun for decades now, he had enough reserves to function without it for a few years even while fighting someone, much less for a few minutes.

The shield covered her entire body with a shimmer, but then settled. It made her look slightly discolored, her clothes just a little less bright, her skin a little whiter, but it was hardly noticeable.

Approaching the bar, she knocked on the door and waited a few seconds, on her vision, Selina put a hand on the lead box in her pocket and got up from the table. Damn, she really had scared the poor woman in their previous meeting.

Kara knew she shouldn't have continued her deal with the thief. She was pretty sure Kal-El could lend her some Nth metal if she asked but, well, Catwoman was already trying to steal the metal, and asking him for every little thing still left a bitter taste in her mouth.

"You're early." Selina commented, but quickly shook her head and motioned her inside. "Nevermind, come in before the Bat comes knocking."

"Batman should be out of Gotham today, the sidekicks have a meeting."

"The Bat is finally letting the pipsqueak have some fun, huh. Good for him." They entered the building and Selina promptly grabbed a bottle of whisky, pouring two glasses and handing her one. "Come on, I got you what you asked."

"Good, you had any trouble?"

"Some, I found some remains of the ship you mentioned in Egypt, but it had already been looted and I only managed to steal a small sample."

"How small?"

"1.852 grams, to be precise." Selina finally let go of the box in her pocket and pulled out the larger container from under the table. "Plus, I think I got the attention of some powerful people when I did it."

"I see. Do you want to renegotiate our deal then?" Kara narrowed her eyes at the woman and Selina sighed.

"No, did you bring the money?"

Kara took her time opening the box and inspecting the metal, it was a broken piece from some computer, using her vision, she could already see only about half of it was Nth metal, but it was well worth the price in her mind.

"Here, 50 millions in gold and jewels." Kara put the backpack inside the table, almost breaking the wood over its weight. "It's up to you to find a way to use it though."

Selina eyed the backpack, but didn't move to take it, a few seconds later she sighed, "Could you at least move it behind the bar, please?"

Ah, right, despite being half filled with jewels, it was still not something a normal human could comfortably lift.

With a snort, Kara moved the backpack behind the bar.

"Say, is your offer of help still on the table?" Selina asked as she drained her glass of whisky.

"Exactly what kind of trouble did you get for this thing?"

"I heard about the kind of battle that went on in Fawcett city three weeks ago after your call, you know." She commented without answering the question. "About how a bunch of villains had joined forces to deal with Captain Marvel while the League was busy. The problem is, I don't think that's the only villain alliance around anymore."

Well, now Selina had her full attention. "Is that the kind of attention you attracted?"

"It's not certain, I don't have any proof of this, but it just doesn't make sense for it to be only a single villain." She confessed and pointed at the box with the Nth metal. "Stealing that attracted far too much heat, and from far too many sources for it to be just one person. I barely got back into the country alive."

"I see." Kara said, seeing the signs of exhaustion on Selina's face for the first time, the woman hid them well, but there were bruises all over her body and she had bags under her eyes. "Do you need a safe place to stay?"

"No, Gotham is the Bat's home, they won't be as brazen here, even if they manage to get me, it would still attract his attention and they don't want to be discovered just yet it seems."

Makes sense, with how united and powerful the League was, the only chance a villain alliance could survive is by remaining hidden.

Kara wondered which version of such an alliance they were dealing with. The Legion of Doom, The Secret Society, Injustice League, The Light, or something completely new? There were so many villain teams in DC she'd have to get a better idea of where things stood before she could say.

Damn, Kara didn't even remember there was a Monster Society of Evil before meeting Mr. Mind for the first time. She had always been more of a Batman than a Captain Marvel fan.

"It seems you're mostly safe here then, what exactly do you want from me?"

"A favor, you promised help dealing with any heat from the job so I want the ability to call on once if something turns up." She said while pouring herself another shot.

Kara considered it, Selina was a fairly benign thief all things considered and, if Kara got the woman killed for a job she ordered, Batman would never forgive her.

Plus, she'd probably only ask Kara to steal something or protect her from someone, it could even be fun… probably.

Batman wouldn't keep letting her escape if she was the kind of woman to hurt innocent people. Then again… Talia al Ghul was a thing.

"Fine, you get one favor, but don't be using my name to intimidate people. I don't want every one of my cousin's enemies knowing I exist by next week."

"Don't worry, you'll be the nuclear option in case everything goes to shit." Selina confessed and relaxed against the back of her chair while putting a hand over her eyes. "It wouldn't be in my best interest for them to be able to make countermeasures before I called you."

Grabbing the piece of Nth metal, Kara spent a few seconds prying the less useful materials from it. It was pretty easy to do since the Nth metal was the only one capable of resisting her Kryptonian strength.

When she was left with only a pure sample of the thing, she put it in her pocket. Snatching the fourth glass of Whiskey from Selina's hand, Kara drank it all in a single gulp and pulled the bottle away from the woman.

"Come on, you're looking like shit, go to sleep Selina."

"What are you, my mother?" the older woman complained, but got up and stretched her back. "Ugh, I really should have left this meeting for another day."

Kara started laughing at Selina's annoyed face. "I don't know why you called me if you have just gotten back in the city. I know I was in a hurry, but I could wait another day or two."

"I just wanted to be done with this whole thing." She turned to glance at the bag full of money. "It was almost not worth it, almost."

Kara left the Tin Roof Club very happy with her purchase, it may only be a small amount of Nth metal, but it was just what she needed to make herself safer. Better yet, it was something nobody but Selina knew she had and so, nobody knew they had to counter.

She took a cab back out of the city and then flew as fast as she could towards her hidden ship on the moon. Kara may have started using Kal-El's Fortress as a second home, but she still kept the ship hidden in order to have some privacy on her own projects.

Working on Nth metal without ruining its properties was hard, and not something her Kryptonian education had covered, but the Psions had some information about it.

At least the damn mad scientists were good for something.

Soon, she was able to separate the sample into four pieces and integrate one of them inside the casing of her prosthetic leg; besides putting it under her own skin, it was the safest she could keep it. Inside the Kryptium casing and very hard to separate it from her.

Not that Nth metal needed protection, but it would keep someone from simply stealing the metal from her.

The second piece she turned into a simple ring to wear around her fingers, something to help in her healing and so it could start getting acclimated to her body.

It would also allow her punches to affect magic beings, which was always a good thing.

The other two, larger samples she simply left on the ship, she needed to study the metal after all, and she wasn't certain some of its more exotic properties could be activated simply by wearing the thing.

Plus, it would be good to have some Nth metal in store in case she somehow lost what she was carrying.

When she finally arrived back home, it was already long past midnight and the lights were on in her apartment. Eager to find out how Kori's day had gone, Kara accelerated and entered the building.

Her smile dimmed a little as she saw Kori sporting a split lip, again.

Kori was one of the best martial artists on the planet, and nearly invulnerable, Kara had to wonder how the heck did she keep getting hurt like this.

What the heck, it was supposed to be a friendly meeting, not a free for all. Did any of the sidekicks even have the kind of strength needed to give her a split lip? "What happened?"

"Fury! Scandal! Vile trickery! Friend Kara, someone has violated your cousin in a most foul manner!"

"What? Violated as in…" Kara said in utter confusion, her temper already starting to rise, by Rao, if something had happened to Kal-El right after she met him…

"Some craven scientists acquired The Superman's DNA and cloned him, trying to create a weapon!" Kori stomped on the ground in indignation. "Worse, Superboy was not allowed to even see the sun while growing up!"

"I… see." Kara said in a measured tone, she was starting to get a suspicion she knew where this was going and she didn't like it, she didn't like it at all. "And what exactly was my cousin's reaction to this news?"

Young Justice wasn't the worst DC setting to be in, but it certainly didn't do the original Justice League any favors.

"The Superman was very affected, he seemed extremely hurt by what had happened, Friend Kara." Kori laid a hand over her shoulders in support. "He refused to face the clone at their first meeting."

Ah, it seems that, despite arriving so late, Kara would still have to teach her little cousin some lessons.