That same morning, Kara floated in front of the mountain, her mind deep in thought. She was feeling very… conflicted right now.
It's not like she didn't understand her cousin's reaction, she had been human once, a long time ago, she got why finding out you had a clone made in secret would affect him in such a way. Well, in a manner of speaking anyway.
There weren't any human clones walking around in her previous world after all, but she imagined the experience was kind of like finding out you had a son from a drunken one-night stand years after the fact.
Only, since Kal-El didn't consent to having his DNA taken, it was probably much worse.
Still, she kind of expected Superman to rise above such things. It was not like Superboy asked to be created after all. Kal-El could be mad at the scientists who created him all he wanted, but the boy needed help, now damn it.
Plus, she was Kara Zor-El and this was a DC universe, it didn't take her long to come to terms with the probable fact she'd have a clone made by one supervillain or another somewhere down the line.
Her Kryptonian education also didn't help in this aspect, at all.
On Krypton, nearly all Kryptonians were born on the Birthing Matrix, the DNA used was carefully selected and modified not only so they'd be more capable in the caste they were supposed to belong to, but also so they'd get joy from doing it.
Kryptonians didn't rebel against their imposed roles not because it was forbidden, but because they didn't want to, they were genetically designed to like their jobs.
Looking at things from a Kryptonian view, Superboy's birth was almost normal and only his accelerated growth was an anomaly. It was not like every Kryptonian pairing loved each other or wanted to be parents after all.
In fact, love between pairings was the exception, not the norm and, sometimes, their guild just needed a new member.
So, two thirds of Kara's mind was screaming at her that her cousin's actions were wrong and illogical and she should be giving him the beating of his life for abandoning a member of his own race like that. There weren't a lot of them left after all.
Still, she knew it would do no good right now and, more importantly, Superboy's situation came first. Kara would give her cousin the time to think about things in peace.
From the YJ show, she knew he'd take a long time to accept the kid but, maybe, just maybe, her presence had changed things for the better.
Right now, she had a newborn Kryptonian to deal with, even if he wasn't really a child. Since her cousin wasn't gonna be there for the kid, it was her job to take care of him.
Using her X-Ray vision, she pierced the layers of earth and stone over the secret base and sighed at the lack of protections it had. She really shouldn't be able to observe Superboy watching static on a TV, not from outside the building itself at least.
Why the hell was the League even still using this place for anything when every two bit villain knew it existed?
Well, it had some defenses and very advanced facilities for something a human could build, so it was better than any random house, but still…
Dropping fast, Kara stepped in the front entrance to Mount Justice and watched as the computer scanned her body before slowly opening the underground entrance. She floated down the mostly empty building while watching some robots doing a few last minute repairs and cleaning.
She followed the calming sound of static towards Superboy's location. The kid was sitting on a sofa in the mountain's living room while ignoring the robots working around him and concentrating on the TV.
"Hello there," Kara called out awkwardly as she dropped back to the ground beside the sofa.
Superboy wasn't surprised, he had probably heard her breathing or even her beating heart as she approached, he just grunted and gave a quick glance her way, then he jumped three meters into the air and fell back down with his fists lifted into an aggressive stance.
"Who are you?" he growled. "You're not a member of the Justice League."
Kara sighed at his aggression and sat down on the sofa. Crossing her legs, she looked at him without her x-ray vision for the first time.
He did look a lot like Kal-El.
Well, the Young Justice cartoon had established that already, but it was one thing to see it in a cartoon and another to see it in real life, with all the small little details.
"You're right, I'm not with the League. I'm here to find out how I'm gonna deal with you."
Slowly, Superboy lowered his fists, then he crossed his arms over his chest and glared at her. "Where is Superman? I thought he'd be the one to deal with me."
Was he pouting? Yes, yes he was pouting, cute kid.
"Kal-El is being a little stupid right now," she told him and turned off the TV. She didn't see the problem revealing his Kryptonian name since he didn't use it anyway. "I do somewhat understand his point of view, but that doesn't mean it isn't stupid."
"Is that… his name?"
"Right, you don't even have a name yet, fuck what were they thinking?" she covered her eyes with a hand and sighed again. "Come on kid, let's talk a little."
"Stop calling me kid!" he shouted at her and refused to obey, his anger already starting to rise.
Damn, she really didn't know how to do this.
"Alright, alright. Sorry," correcting her posture, Kara tried to be a little more serious since her approach wasn't working. "First, let me introduce myself, I'm Kara Zor-El, I'm Kal-El's older cousin."
"What?"
"Yeah, interplanetary travel and being frozen kinda inverted that order but, I was definitely born first," Kara told him with a nod. She looked around all the working robots and the empty space and came to a decision. "Nope, come on, we're leaving."
"What?" He asked again, still flabbergasted to be meeting a second Kryptonian.
"This place may make for a good base of operations, after installing some better security that is, but it's definitely not a home. Come on, you're staying with me from now on."
"The Justice League told me to stay here," he protested weakly, but Kara just got up and started pulling him away from the room.
"The Justice League stashed you here, you mean. Yeah, I'm gonna have to have some words with them too," she started to walk towards the exit when she remembered the boy couldn't fly right now. Turning around, she went back towards the Zeta-Tube.
She didn't really like using the things too much, she didn't have the time to study the network and she wouldn't put it past The Light to be able to access its records. Thankfully, Batman had approved of her initial paranoia and gave her a fake name.
Brika was a good name for an average flying brick package, wasn't it?
Kara took the kid back to Fawcett city but, instead of going directly back home, she stopped at an empty restaurant where they could have some privacy without having the kid become too defensive.
They sat at a booth and Kara pulled a device from one of her pockets, throwing it inside the table. She activated the sound blocker so nobody could hear their talk, soon a waiter came around and she ordered two plates of Beef Bourguignon.
"Come on, eat up," she told him as she thought about what to say.
Superboy actually dug into the meal with gusto, it seemed he had inherited her cousin's love for the meal after all.
"Alright, first we'll get you a name. Do you want to choose one for yourself or for me to give you one?" Kara asked. "I mean, if you have anything in mind it'll be great. but it's not like people usually choose their names, so there's nothing wrong about not knowing."
Kara had thought long and hard about Superboy's name, in the end, she decided there was nothing really wrong about Connor or Kon-El, and she didn't need to change it just to be different.
In some continuities, Kon meant abomination, but that had not been its first meaning, and it was not the meaning in this reality. There hadn't even been a clone war in her Krypton, much less a prejudice against them.
"I-I really don't know?" he asked in confusion as he looked at his own hands.
"Hey, I just said it's okay, remember, no need to be worried," she calmed him down. "How about this, my cousin is called Kal-El, El being the house name. I'll call you Kon-El since you're family."
"I… Kon-El?" the kid said with a little smile on his face. "I'm family?"
Kara knew she was throwing a lot on his plate right now; the kid was barely out of his tank before, so he didn't have much experience, but he did have the knowledge necessary to understand things.
Hopefully, getting him in school and interacting with a wide variety of people would help with his emotional development.
Also, no member of the El house would live without a proper education.
"But, I'm a clone…"
"Alright, wanna know a secret? For a Kryptonian, you're actually more normal than Kal-El," she let Kol-El digest that as she ordered a serving of ice cream as dessert. Scoping a spoonful, she commented, "Most kryptonians are like you, born from mixing DNA, Kal-El was the odd one, he was actually born the old school way, can you believe that?"
Kara continued to eat her ice cream as Kon-El slowly started to understand the situation he was in.
Truth be told, Kara really didn't want to be involved. Kon-El was created by The Light, and chances were high they'd find out about her existence if she got involved but, she just couldn't leave the kid alone.
She, Kal-El and the boy may have been the last Kryptonians alive today. No way could she let a member of her own race fend for himself like that.
Well, there was the phantom zone to consider, but that was a whole other can of worms.
"I guess this is a lot to take in right? So, what do you want to do?" she finally asked him with a welcoming smile. "I confess I was a little hasty to just take you out of the mountain, if you want, I can take you back while you think about things, but I'd really like for you to stay with me. I wasn't there when my cousin needed me, but I won't make the same mistake with you."
Despite her dislike of the place, Kara was willing to recognize Kon-El would probably be safe at the mountain for another few days, and her main reason for taking him out of there was to have a frank conversation without Batman -or anyone else- peeking.
"I-I need some time to think."
"I understand," she finished her ice cream and laid back against the stuffed chair, "How about this then, let me tell you a little about your family, and Kryptonians in general."
"I'd like that, yes."
So, she told him about their original planet. About how most Kryptonians were like him, born through a machine in order to fulfill a purpose in their society, but they could still grow to like different things, all in order to get him to relax a little and maybe help him find himself sooner instead of being angry because he wasn't Superman.
It was painful to talk about her home, but she managed to hide that from him without much trouble.
She wasn't even lying, spending a few months or even years training in a different guild was a common form of teenage rebellion on Krypton. It was even beneficial, they'd inevitably discover they liked their original guild more and the experience would make them better when they came of age.
A member of the Science Guild who spent a few years training in the Military Guild would understand their needs better after all and Kryptonians lived long enough for the lost time not to be a problem.
She also told him about the house of El, their story, their customs and their achievements, all in the hopes of catching his attention.
That damn cabal of clowns used telepathy to fill his mind with thoughts of filling Superman's shoes and fighting for Earth like that was all he could do. Kara did her best to change that assumption.
Kon-El was created from Lex Luthor and Kal-El, a member of the El house, it was impossible for him to just be an angry muscle-head who punched things and she'd make damn sure of that.
Eventually, she left a much happier and, perhaps, a little less confused with life, Kon-El back into the mountain with a new cell phone holding both her and Kori's number. She flew away from the mountain for a few minutes before her smile fell off her face.
"UGH! That was a mess! I kept confusing him and barely let him talk!" she lifted both arms up and almost yelled in frustration. "And I didn't even talk with him about the examinations!"
Kara knew for a fact there were mental commands implanted on the kid and she wasn't about to let them stay.
Also, she didn't remember anything being wrong with his biology, but Kryptonian DNA was incredibly complicated. She wouldn't put it past CADMUS to have missed something that's only gonna show up decades later or, worse, left something on purpose.
She'd have to talk with Kal-El about letting Kon-El into the Fortress but, if he said no for some reason, she'd just have to sneak the boy inside. Worst case scenario, she'd use her ship's medical bay, but it wouldn't come to that.
She had already left a message with the Martian Manhunter asking for a meeting, but the male was busy with something at the moment and would get back to her sometime tomorrow, probably his niece arriving on Earth.
Now, to deal with the second problem.
When night fell, Kara stopped far above the clouds and over the damaged CADMUS building. There wasn't anyone fixing the entrance, but the heavy machinery lay all around the place.
She tried peering inside the building, but Luthor was one of the owners of the place, of course it was filled with lead.
She considered her options. At first, she had thought about just mining enough gold to buy the entire thing but, not only would that reveal her existence to the world, it would probably not work. The Light, or even just Luthor himself, had enough political power to block any such move.
She also couldn't risk The Light moving the things inside when they learned of her attempt.
She'd bet Luthor had filled the place with all sorts of contingencies in case her cousin snapped and actually attacked it. The man was far too used to dealing with an angry Kryptonian… too bad for him he wasn't used to dealing with an angry Kryptonian's tech.
Lifting a small pouch from her waist, Kara opened it and turned it upside down, releasing a deluge of metal balls half the size of her fingernail. They fell through the air, but stopped right before hitting CADMUS' surface, floating a couple of centimeters above the ground. A second later, they activated their non disturbance mode and disappeared from view.
Kara may not have access to Kryptonian military drones, but high grade civilian gear could work just as well when dealing with Earth's technology.
Every little drone she released was equipped with a camera capable of mapping terrain and keeping track of living beings, a wireless transmitter untraceable by Earth's current technology and a cloaking device.
On Krypton, they were used to float above a Kryptonian and help them navigate without being lost, take pictures or recordings of important moments and information for later use, keep track of children and remain inconspicuous during everyday life.
Here on Earth, they were nearly undetectable stealth devices.
Opening a tablet in front of her, she ordered the devices to start infiltrating the facility and map out all its rooms. It wasn't instantaneous but, after only a couple of hours, she had a complete map of CADMUS underground and the drones were keeping track of all organic movement.
Thousands of Genomorphs of all shapes and sizes, dozens of scientists all currently working and even Guardian himself taking a nap in a resting room, all unaware of the machines watching them.
Ordering one of the drones to connect to an empty and unobserved computer wouldn't usually be possible, but Kara had made a few modifications so the drones were compatible with Earth's tech.
Soon, she had access to CADMUS systems through her tablet and released a wave of malware. Small, inconsequential programs that were so alien to CADMUS computers they wouldn't be detected as viruses and slowly took over every aspect on their systems, using The Light's own hidden programs to do so.
That's the problem with leaving backdoors in a computer system so you could interact with them without detection, someone else could make use of them if they had the right knowledge and equipment.
Kara had no doubt someone like Oracle, The Brain, Dr. Ivo or Dr. Morrow could quickly adapt against her programming, they were just that good, but CADMUS computers weren't really their focus, and Kryptonian tech was an out of contest problem the system just wasn't capable of fighting against without supervision.
With control over the building's computer system, Kara started downloading a copy of all the information they had, even the ones kept hidden on Luthor's secret little server. She also took the chance to install a program that would erase both her image and voice from any recording device in the building.
Alright, now what?
Despite her efforts, Kara's skills at stealth were about the same as her skills at fighting before meeting Kori, that is to say, she didn't have them.
Yes, she could avoid meeting anyone on the mostly empty upper floors, but the lower floors were a hive of activity and she still didn't have the time to adapt the drone's stealth tech to work with her clothes.
Worse, some of the Genomorphs were telepaths and she had no way to hide from them. "Alright, mental note, find a way to hide from telepaths, or at least block their powers."
Well, if she couldn't hide from the Genomorphs, she'd just have to get their help instead.
She quickly lifted her tablet to her face and changed the view to watch Dubbilex; since she already controlled their computer, it was easy to generate a message requiring his presence on one of the upper floors.
Then she dropped down. Using her speed and the darkness of the night, she managed to remain undetected by anything outside the building.
The ground floor was still filled with rubble, but she found an easy path down into the first underground floor which only had a couple of human workers, Kara avoided them and found an empty room.
Before long, she felt a weight settle on her mind, she knew she still didn't have the mental fortitude or training to resist his intrusion but, luckily, she didn't have to.
Instead, she tried to think about Superboy, their family connection and her intent to free the Genomorphs from their imposed slavery and hoped he wouldn't delve deeper.
She had to admit, it was somewhat of a gamble to let someone have access to her mind but, the second she felt him trying to delve where he wasn't invited, she'd use her speed to burst out of the building, even if she had to go through him.
She was pretty sure he wasn't a powerful enough telepath to incapacitate her before she was out of his range… or plastered him all over the hallway. She even made sure she was actively thinking about that too.
The automatic door to the room opened with only a small noise and the tall Genomorph stepped inside, his arms crossed behind his back.
"Greetings, Kara Zor-El. I apologize for the intrusion into your mind," he told her in an emotionless voice. "I can only say it seemed necessary from my point of view."
"I can see that, yes," she nodded to him in greeting and massaged her temples. "You didn't try to peek for too long, so I forgive you."
"Well, the image of my insides spread on the hallway in case I tried was most illuminating," he told her as he awkwardly extended a hand, then he continued. "It also seemed disturbingly likely, with the way you were thinking."
"Ah, I'd really like to avoid killing again, but mind control just leaves me on edge. Were you able to see why I came while you searched my mind?"
"I could see you're attempting to help my kind, but I have to confess, I retreated somewhat hastily after that vivid image."
Yep, Kryptonians were scary. No doubt about that.
"Well, I have three options for you," Kara told him while keeping an eye on the surveillance system. "First, I can just call the League again, I'm pretty sure the damn idiots were too tired from fighting Wotan, or too busy gapping at my cousin's clone to think about things but, after a round of yelling at everybody, I can get them to help free you guys from slavery… still don't know how they let that one pass.
"The second option is probably the safest, I'm pretty sure you guys qualify as a race of your own so, if I call The Green Lanterns and ask for asylum, they'd come over in a heartbeat to help you guys settle somewhere else. Heck, maybe Mars would take you guys; they're all telepathic shape shifters, so it could be easier for you guys to settle there.
"The third option would be a little riskier, I can help you guys take over," and here Kara leaned towards Dubbilex with a predatory smile. "I already have control of the building's surveillance systems and, with your telepathy, you can turn the tables on your so-called 'owners' without anyone even finding out."
"That is… three more options than I was expecting," Dubbilex said with a sigh. "I always believed Superboy would be the one to help us, and meeting the Justice League only enforced that feeling, even your heroes didn't really see us as anything but tools."
Kara's hands tightened into fists at his words, she really would like to argue with that, but she couldn't, not when what he said was right.
"I can only apologize for how the League dismissed you guys, I could say they're too overworked to pay attention to the little details. but it is no excuse, and slavery is never just a little detail."
"Why are YOU so willing to help us?" he asked, narrowing his eyes at Kara in suspicion.
"Many reasons, I'm pretty sure you were the one who organized things so Kon-El would be freed, so I feel indebted to you. Plus, as I said, I don't consider slavery to be a small thing and I have the power to do something about it," Kara said and scratched the back of her head, somewhat embarrassed by her next reason, "But I'm also doing this to stop whatever plans you creator's have for you, that's why I'm a little partial to the third option, I do need a base of my own, and a little help dealing with the bastards that created you. Having that help come from you guys and the base being one of theirs would feel somewhat… poetic."
"I see… and if I don't trust you, will you leave us alone?"
"I'm sorry, but no. I'm willing to let you choose how to do this, but I can't leave you guys as slaves no matter what you say," she considered things a little bit and completed. "Besides, I know for a fact there's another Kryptonian and a little boy hidden somewhere down here, so I'm raiding this place anyway."
"Impossible, I'm aware of every one of CADMUS projects, there are no records of another successful clone, Superboy is the only one."
"Wrong," she quickly browsed through the data she stole and turned her tablet towards the male. "They called him Project Match, he is in dire need of help and I WILL provide it."
Dubbilex didn't release his arms from his back but, with a light tug, the tablet slowly floated away from Kara's hands and towards his face, he quickly read the information about Match but, instead of giving it back, he started searching for information about Genomorphs themselves.
Kara let him. Dubbilex's face became angrier and angrier as he read on, finally he reached his own information and Kara swore, if she had been using a normal tablet instead of a Kryptonian one, it would have cracked in half as it was flung across the room.
"We accept," Dubbilex said without any hesitation in his voice. "They need to be stopped."
Kara grabbed the tablet back and couldn't help herself, she read what had bothered him so much. "Well... damn."