章 1149: 47 - |
XxX
(A Few Days Later – Gotham City)
Kal-L, the Superman of Earth-Two, died as a result of the injuries he received from stopping Superboy-Prime. He was far from the only casualty. Between Prime tearing through 32 Green Lanterns', all the deaths of heroes and civilians from The Society's actions on Earth, the O.M.A.C.s before that, and more… the final toll had been drastic in the end.
Major cities all over the world had been devastated. In the days and weeks that followed, vigils were held around the globe for the missing and dead. Similarly, there were also celebrations from Earth's grateful population. Only in the aftermath of everything did people realize just how much had really been at stake.
Very little of this mattered to Max.
It had been everywhere he looked from the moment he returned to standard civilization, and it had gotten old by the second day. He had lived it! He didn't need to hear wall-to-wall coverage in the aftermath of the same incident from yet another angle. He didn't need to be celebrated by the general public, or get a pat on the back from the hero community. Not unless the celebration and kudos came with a massive cash grant in his honor. But it wouldn't, so he didn't care.
Things were still too hot to resort to thievery to occupy himself. And as he didn't necessarily need the money, it also seemed like a real jerk thing to do for his own amusement and profit, even if he only exclusively stole from bad guys. A lot of them had gone underground for the time being in the wake of The Society's command structure collapsing, even in Gotham City. There wasn't a need to risk kicking the never-ending war between good and evil back into gear prematurely over petty profit. He'd have plenty of chances to suit up, no question about it.
There were only supposed to be a few days until high school started back up for Max, but worldwide catastrophes had a tendency to move start dates back for public classes. Given a little extra time to recuperate and take some time for himself, he jumped all over the opportunity to take some quality time with his favorite girl.
With the click of a few locks, Max hurriedly opened the door to a large, unfurnished penthouse at the top of a twelve-story high rise. Kara calmly followed him in, though she couldn't help but smile at how excited he was. After spending much of the day together, he had been showing her the building, with this being the grand finale.
"And this is gonna be my suite," Max said, walking to the middle of the floor and gesturing around, "I mean, I liked my townhouse, but that's not an option anymore. And the way Selina was living in that penthouse of hers when I stayed with her was too sweet to let go of. I needed to get one for myself. Mine doesn't have a view quite as good as hers, but this is pretty great too. So, what do you think?"
Kara walked around and took everything in. It was an open floor plan for the living room and kitchen. There wasn't a lot of furniture around, but the suite was refurbished and the appliances were all in, "This is a nice place. And you've been fixing this place up for a while?"
"Remember how you asked me before where I keep my money?" Max asked, "I took a note from Selina and her club, set up some accounts, and bought up some property."
Kara's mouth fell open in surprise, "You invested in real estate? Like, for real? How much?"
"Eh, some here, some there. It's a diverse portfolio," Max said, "Some places are pretty nice, like this. Others, not so much. They're works in progress."
"Wow," Kara felt oddly warm at hearing that. It was good to see that Max was capable of looking beyond thievery and could find other ways to apply himself, "That's so... on the up-and-up for you. It's weird. Definitely good! But, yeah, weird."
Yes. More of that. Max had a bigger brain and a quicker wit than people thought. He could use that brain to do more than steal things and hoodwink his enemies.
Upon being praised by his girlfriend, Max couldn't help but preen further, "Yeah, I have some in Gotham. Some in Metropolis. Some in Star City... Central City... ooh, San Francisco..."
It was there that Kara began to see a pattern, "You bought property in cities with lots of hero battles."
Realizing that Kara was catching on to what he was doing, Max smile sheepishly, "Yeah. I did research on spots in those towns that saw a lot of action. I took out big insurance policies on places that needed some TLC when I got 'em," He paid for the work to raise the value with a plan to make more than he put in back quickly, "Let's just say in the aftermath of this Society stuff, I'm kinda cleaning up right now."
Kara tried to give him a stern look that was ruined by the smile she still wore, "...I was totally about to say I was proud of you for making an honest living," she said dryly.
"Hey, this was totally honest," Max said, "I was totally planning on doing this the right way. I just also expected, like, for example, the Flash to eventually run through some little storefront I'd have rented out downtown and ruin the place," He had simply been covering his bases. Honestly, it would have been irresponsible of him to not take out hero insurance on his properties, "I wasn't expecting a world-ending cataclysm to almost happen. But since it did..."
A sigh escaped Kara's lips as she shook her head, "You never cease to amaze me, you know that?"
"That's my line," Max said as his tour took them out onto a balcony with a view of the ocean, "You got your win back. And you helped saved the universe."
Kara raised an eyebrow, "You also helped save the universe."
"All I did was throw some megalomaniacal egghead's overblown science project into orbit."
"All I did was give some hopped-up brat a spanking and sit him in permanent red sun timeout with the Green Lanterns," Kara responded, "And I didn't do it alone."
"I didn't either," Max said, leaning forward against the railing. Kara joined him. For a moment the two stood together in silence until Max reached out to stroke Kara's cheek, "Are you sure you're okay? He beat you pretty bad again."
Kara shut her eyes and leaned into Max's touch before answering the question, "I feel much better now that I'm back under Earth's sunlight."
In the bid to drain Superboy-Prime of his powers, Earth's Kryptonian heroes had lost their own, all except Power Girl, "Do you know when you're going to get your powers back?"
Kara stretched her arms over her head, basking in the welcoming glow of the setting sun, "Kal-El has no idea. Could be a week, could be a month... could be a year," She let out an exasperated sigh, "I wish I knew how long it was going to take to fly again. I miss it already."
Max could only imagine how weird it was. It had taken her over a year to get used to having powers in the first place, "As someone who also grew up without powers and then suddenly got them, I'm sorry. I know it would suck if I lost mine."
"You know what really sucks about it?" Kara asked, "Just when I think I'm finally starting to figure out who I'm supposed to be, I go and lose a really important part of who I've become. But it was worth it."
Besides, there were plenty of heroes to pick up the slack in the interim. Though the hero community hadn't entirely rebounded to the way it had been at its peak, it was healing. After all, they had seen how close things had come to the brink when they weren't on the same page. What had happened before could never be allowed again.
The good guys would do their work, the way they were supposed to. Kara shouldn't have had to rush to get back to form. It would come in time. In the meantime, it could have served as a golden opportunity to take care of herself.
"Eh, maybe Supergirl could use a vacation," Max suggested, "It might give Kara some free time to do some of the other things she wants to do."
"Like what?" Kara asked, an inquisitive look on her face.
Max found himself at a loss, "I dunno. Anything you want," Such a decision was not the sort of thing he could make for another person, "Just take your time and think about it. If you don't know now, something will come to you."
Kara did take a moment to think about it, pacing around the balcony, her fingers laced behind her back. It didn't take long at all for her to come up with an idea, "...You know, I've always wanted to try and study engineering. I used to think about doing something with science and technology back when I lived on Krypton."
"Yeah. There you go, smartypants. Stuff like that," Max reacted supportively, "I'm in good with Blue Beetle now. I'm sure I can get him to hook you up with some apprenticing or something."
Kara gifted Max with a beatific smile before a stray thought turned that smile into a more mischievous one. Hands still behind her back, she slowly paced over to Max, gently swaying side to side as she approached, "But now that you mention it, there's something else I really want to do. Like, right now," Standing well within Max's personal space, she looked up into his face, "I've actually been waiting for a really long time."
"Oh," Max hummed, trying to play dumb, "Is it something I can help with?"
Blue eyes sparkling with mirth, Kara was more than willing to play along, "In fact, sir, you are an integral part of it," She informed him as she pat him on the chest.
"Fantastic," Max chirped, "And, pray tell, is there anywhere in particular we need to be for this... thing that you want to do? Or can we start here?"
Kara blinked and looked around, her face slowly turning a tad red, "Well, in theory, we could do it right out here, I guess... but..."
"-I've got new giant couches that are pretty comfortable," Max suggested.
Max took mercy on her attempts to flirt. She had done very well before he had outright put her on the spot. He leaned forward and captured her lips with his. Kara calmed down and eased into the kiss until she decided to grab Max up and carry him off. Being little more than a normal girl now, she found herself barely able to budge him, "Uh, I guess I didn't think that one throu-oop!" Max wrapped his arms around her waist and lifted her, pressing her back against the wall as they continued to make out.
Kara wasn't used to being the physically weaker one in any interaction she had, especially in this relationship, but as Max snaked his hands under her top and starting kissing on her neck and collarbone, she felt she could get used to it – for however long as it lasted. She wrapped her legs around his waist and mewled contently.
"Hah... where is your room?" She asked as the two hormone-driven teenagers continued to paw relentlessly at one another, "C-can't see through walls anymore."
Max tore only the bare minimum of attention away from Kara, continuing to lavish her with affection and freeing only one hand to fumble around for the door handle to take them back inside, "Come with me."
"That's the idea," Kara remarked breathily, "You have a bed here, right?"
"Just put it up today," Max confirmed.
Kara hummed in satisfaction as Max set her down on the aforementioned bed. It was brand new. It definitely felt like it, "So, was this all part of your master plan?"
"No plan," Max popped his shirt off only to fix Kara with a 'who me?' expression once it was thrown aside, "Do I look like a guy with a plan?" He asked, belt sliding out of his pants with a little magnetic manipulation of the buckle. The pants fell moments after.
"Oh, no you don't," Kara laughed. She kicked her shoes off as she took in the show Max provided for her. Returning the favor, she quickly removed her shorts leaving her in underwear, "You can't pull that 'babe in the woods' garbage on me. I'm the last person you're going to get to underestimate you ever again."
"Please keep all expectations low in the future, dear," Max requested, "It would probably be best for all of us."
Kara rose up on her elbows and raised a brow at him, "All expectations?"
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