"I'm sorry, what did you just say?" Kara asked as she nursed a cup of scalding hot coffee and attempted to not think about what happened yesterday.
The night had ended with all of them sleeping at Selina's place. For whatever reason, the drunken woman had dragged them all home with her before collapsing on the bed.
Kara had made sure to hack every camera in the club and erase any footage of the night before they left, and now, the next morning, or well, almost evening really, Kara and Selina sat awkwardly at the kitchen table.
"I need your help." Selina said, drinking her own cup of coffee and looking far too good for the night she had. "I'd usually go to the Bat with something like this but, with that whore in town, I guess you'll do."
"You're talking about that Talia woman?" Kara asked, pretending that she didn't know anything about it. When Selina nodded, she continued. "You do know she's staying in Bruce Wayne's manor, right? Not with Batman."
"Bullshit, she's just using our resident man-whore as a shield so nobody can attack her at home. She's after the Bat. She's always after the Bat." Selina took a calming sip of her drink and sighed. "Nevermind the bitch, I need your help saving a friend."
"Explain." Kara sighed, her eye following after Kori as the girl walked into the kitchen, poured herself another cup of coffee, and left to talk with Danette on the sofa.
"Damn, you've got it bad." Selina smirked, but continued explaining. "Alright, you remember that organization I told you about after I did the job?"
"...Yes." Kara said, her face flushed with embarrassment.
"Well, things are chaotic in the underworld right now. A few months ago, Ivy had 'agreed' to do a job for someone but, in the chaos, she thought she could get away from it." Selina tapped her nails on the table and glanced at Kara to see her reaction.
"I take it she was mistaken?" Kara lifted an eyebrow.
"Yes, but also no." Taking another sip, Selina laid back against her chair. "With them no longer holding a monopoly on things, Ivy would normally be strong enough to get away with it, but they used her boyfriend as bait and captured her in secret. I want your help rescuing her."
Kara finished her coffee and thought about the situation, 'they' were probably The Light… so they were losing enough control of the other villains that they were getting denied, Kara just bet Vandal loved that.
She tried to think about what The Light wanted with Ivy, then she remembered that Injustice League nonsense… But that was supposed to be months from now.
Well… they probably needed time to plan things, and also to experiment with using Blockbuster and Venom on Poison Ivy's plants.
"So, how did you find out about this? Did 'they' spread it around to intimidate other people?"
"A hero ended up rescuing her boyfriend. The guy got hurt doing it and couldn't save her as well, but the freed boyfriend came to me for help since he knew we were friends." Selina smiled at Kara with an amused smile.
"Not the League or Batman?" She asked, exercising a lot of restraint not to eavesdrop on Kori when she and Danette started laughing in the other room.
"Well, Kite-Man didn't think he could contact them without getting arrested too."
"Wait, Kite-Man? Poison Ivy was dating Kite-Man?" Kara almost shouted, her mouth hanging open. "Rao, I thought she was a lesbian."
"She's actually bi." Selina snickered at Kara's reaction. "Also, Kite-Man got a lot of clout when he helped Batman defeat the Joker. And you didn't even hear the best part, who do you think managed to rescue them?"
Kara thought about it, it was probably some weaker hero or something, but she had no idea who. "I don't know, perhaps some third rater?"
"You can say that again." Selina snickered, then shook her head. "It was actually the Red Bee."
"Don't… really know him." Kara commented. "I'm guessing he can control bees? That's not a bad street level power if used right."
"Well, he can control 'a' bee, just the one." Selina snorted. "Calls it Michael and everything. Tried to arrest me once."
"Sooooo, let me see if I got this right." Kara took a moment to gather her thoughts. "Kite-Man, Poison Ivy's boyfriend, got captured by someone. Poison Ivy herself was captured when she tried to get him back, then a dude who controls 'a' bee rescued him, but Poison Ivy couldn't escape herself? Somehow, my respect for this organization is disappearing by the second, and for Poison Ivy."
"Well, in her defense, once they had her, nobody really cared about Kite-Man. They probably didn't waste anyone competent guarding him, and Red Bee is a good martial artist, he also has something to climb buildings." Selina stared at Kara's eye and waited a second, when Kara didn't say anything, she probed. "So, are you willing to help?"
Kara considered it, she had promised Selina a favor and rescuing someone, even a villain, was a far more acceptable use of her favor than helping steal something or, Rao forbid, actually fight off a Hero.
Kara didn't exactly care that Catwoman stole things as long as it didn't hurt anyone, but explaining her reason to her cousin would be a pain. Also, she really didn't want another confrontation with The Light, at least not for another week or so. She'd been enjoying her vacation, damn it.
With a sigh, Kara massaged her temples, eventually glancing back to Selina. "Alright, do you know where Ivy is right now?"
"Not really, I went after her when I heard about it, but they had changed locations as soon as Kite-Man escaped." Selina explained while grabbing the table and stretching her back like a cat. "I confess I like hunting as much as the next cat, but it is very annoying when my enemies show signs of competency."
"Fine, I'll ask around and see if I can find her. I'll decide next steps after that." Kara glanced back at the living room and considered how angry Kori would be if she got into trouble only a few days after deciding to take a break. "Still, if I think it's too much, I'll probably be calling my cousin."
"Fair enough." Selina sighed and pushed herself to her feet. "Getting arrested by the Big Blue would be annoying for her, but escaping from Arkham is much easier than from other villains. Probably safer too."
"What makes you think I wouldn't arrest her?" Kara narrowed her eye at Selina. It's true that she didn't care all that much about stealing things, and she even supported some of Ivy's environmental goals, but there were things she couldn't ignore. "Ivy kills people Selina, innocent people."
"Ivy is… complicated, even I tend to stay away from her when she's having one of her episodes." Selina nodded. "But Kite-Man was doing her wonders, and she even got herself a good psychologist, some cute blonde that's helping her out a lot. Besides, the news gives her a much worse reputation than she really deserves, she doesn't even like hurting people."
Kara lifted an eyebrow. "Really? That's your excuse, she's misunderstood?"
"You do realize she could be MUCH worse, right? Ivy tends to use vines and normal trees to cause property damage… and some poisons. When she's at her worst, she'll mind control or even poison people, but some of the plants she talks about…" Selina shuddered. "There's this 'suicide plant' from Australia, or that evil tree you can't even burn that's just… ugh."
Kara had to give her that, she had hardly ever heard of Poison Ivy using the more… tasteless plants out there. Besides, if that whole Injustice League incident was because of The Light forcing her hand, she may be able to turn the Villainess against them.
"Fine, I'll help look for her and, if I think we can pull it off, I'll call you for the rescue." Kara answered, looking at the clock on the wall and pushing herself to her feet. "If you don't have anything else to talk about, it's about time I go home. Have to take a bath and see how my cat's doing."
Dexter was a fairly independent kitty, and Kara's cleaning robot had been programmed to feed him and change his water, but Kara didn't like leaving him alone for more than was necessary.
"Thanks." Selina smiled at her. "Bring the cat next time you turn up. I take care of a lot of strays, but I'm out of the house too much to have one myself."
Kara left Selina's house, followed closely by Kori and Danette. Even in the morning, Gotham City looked gray and had a large cloud blocking most of the sunlight from shining through. Kara enjoyed the club, and she could see some of the beauty in the city, but she couldn't imagine living here.
The android waited with them until a taxi arrived, then gave each of them a hug. "Thanks for inviting me, I really needed this." Looking at Kara's eye, Danette gave her an uncertain look. "Everything just feels so… overwhelming right now. Can you really get Flash's address? I'd love to talk with someone familiar before deciding things."
"Sure, I could invite Wonder Woman too, or your younger brother?"
"No, I admired Diana but we were never really friends." Danette confessed. "And I'd like to have my life in order before meeting Red Tornado."
Kara could certainly relate, even if meeting Kal before she was ready probably turned out better for her in the long run. Still, she'd give the android a few more days before pushing her.
Alone, both girls returned to the apartment, getting a loud greeting by Dexter as the cat complained about sleeping alone and weaved between their legs with vigorous indignation.
Lifting the cat up, Kori touched their noses while Kara kicked off her shoes and went to check on her Sunstone printer. It had finished producing a prototype adaptation of the Fog in the shape of a ten centimeters cube of crystal.
Taking it off the printer, she brought it closer to her good eye and saw the minuscule robots neatly packed in the shape of the cube. They were supposed to incorporate the best traits of the Fog and her own drones, but Kara still needed to test it.
"I will be occupying the bathroom first." Kori called from the other room. "I still have to train with Master Diana today."
"Alright." Kara absentmindedly answered while ordering the cube to activate.
The millions of little robots turned on, giving the cube a slight glow, then they dispersed into the shape of a small cloud. Using her tablet, Kara started testing the programmed instructions.
Like her previous drones, the new fog robots had small limbs that could connect to each other, allowing them to take different shapes and form different devices, but they retained their ability to disassemble inorganic material and steal information from electronics. Unfortunately, that functionality would still result in the unsubtle destruction of the original targeted data.
Ordering the robots to organize themselves into a large plate, Kara started stress testing it.
Turns out, the tiny robots could form a very strong defense, but they were far less resistant than a solid block of the same material, much less her battle armor. Still, their versatility had Kara seriously considering incorporating them into her public costume.
"Friend Kara, I am leaving now!" Kori yelled, finally causing Kara to lift her head from the experimentation. "However, do not think I have not noticed that you are avoiding me. That will not stand, we will talk later."
Glancing at the hour, Kara realized she had wasted more than forty minutes just testing the new invention and not thinking about anything. In a hurry, she dropped her experiments and rushed to the door.
Poking her head out of the room, she saw Kori wearing workout clothes. The Tamaranean was back to using the disguise device to change her skin color, but wore black leggings and a sports bra that barely contained her breasts and left most of her body exposed.
"Wha-what do you mean I'm avoiding you?" Kara swallowed hard, her eye running over Kori's body and taking it all in.
Kara had thought she had gotten used to how beautiful Kori was, but yesterday's kiss seemed to have changed something and she was looking at her… friend with newfound interest.
"Yes, you are." Kori had a self-satisfied smile on her face at Kara's roaming gaze, then her face became serious and she narrowed her green eyes. "Still, I must fulfill my obligations to Master Diana, but we will speak tonight. Do not try to escape me."
Waving her goodbye, Kori stepped out of the apartment, leaving Kara feeling very intimidated by her proclamations, and a little hot under the collar.
Kara's eye followed the Tamaranean down the building until Kara managed to snap out of it and cut off her X-Ray vision.
Rao, was she really going to be doing this? There was a reason Kara had avoided even thinking about Kori before, and it wasn't because she wasn't attracted to the girl.
No, Kara had been avoiding thinking about their relationship because knew she wasn't in a very healthy place after her ordeals. Her life was a mess, she still hadn't dealt with her second set of memories and, worse, she was getting involved with superhero stuff. Red Arrow's death was proof of just how dangerous that was.
In the comics, superheroes usually ended up surviving but, even there, nobody could accuse them of living very happy, or very safe, lives, and Kara wasn't in a comic book.
Feeling frustrated, Kara punched the wall using far more strength than she meant to, causing a noise like an explosion. "Oh crap!"
Her fist punched all the way through the wall and must have hit something important. For a second, the entire apartment shook, the lights blinked and the TV actually fell off the wall.
Flashing towards it, Kara caught the device before it could hit the ground and released a breath of relief. Looking around the room, she thanked Rao that there was nobody else to see her blunder.
"Meow!" Dexter complained. Climbing back on the arm of the sofa, the cat glared at her with large and judgmental eyes before shaking himself and starting to lick his disheveled fur back into place, his tail puffed up like a feather duster.
"Shut up, don't judge me!"
Narrowing his pupils, Dexter turned his back to her, lifted his butt in an imperious way and walked away to hide in Kori's room.
Putting the TV back into place, Kara considered the hole in the wall. It seemed she had actually hit some kind of support structure, but it hadn't been with her full strength, so there was no real damage.
Releasing a groan, she grabbed her computer and started tapping away. A few minutes of programming later, her Fog inspired drones floated towards the hole and filled it up before changing colors to perfectly mimic the rest of the apartment. "There, nobody will ever know."
Ugh, she knew she had to find a new home soon, there was no way people didn't know there was something strange about her building by this point, not after everything that had happened.
In truth, she was supposed to have found a new place weeks ago, she just didn't have the time before. Maybe she should take the chance to apartment hunt with Kori this week.
And now she was thinking about Kori again, great.
Taking a cold shower, Kara prepared herself a sandwich and threw herself on the sofa. Twenty minutes later; Dexter appeared again, jumping on top of her chest to steal some of her heat.
With one hand caressing her cat's fur, Kara grabbed her tablet with the other and spent the morning lazing about on her device.
First, Kara sent a message towards Detective Chimp asking him to look into Poison Ivy's location, then she released a few bots on the internet to look for any clue about the villainess, finally, Kara spent the rest of the morning playing around with designing new devices. Turns out there were a surprising number of ways to create a laser pistol even with Earth's technology, some were even non-lethal.
From blinding to just dazing someone, from making them explode from thermal energy to playing with Dexter, laser weapons are very versatile, if you know how to build them.
Maybe she could incorporate them with her new solar panels. With her tech, it would make for a good defensive option, capable of shooting down pesky alien invaders and the inevitable eventual villain doomsday satellite or two. Nobody had to know she had the option unless she was forced to use it.
Dismissing her thoughts for later, Kara lifted Dexter away and put him back down on the sofa before changing clothes, she had promised to check in with Guardian about the CADMUS situation and the man wanted to talk with her in person.
Taking the Zeta-Tube, Kara arrived in an underground chamber below her factory. She couldn't wait to replace the Zeta-Tube with her own teleportation tech but, until then, it was better than just flying around alone.
"Miss Danvers!" An average looking man called out as he deactivated the defensive turrets from another room. He looked like he was just behind a glass window, but Kara knew that, if she tried to attack it, things wouldn't end well for her.
Kara lifted an eyebrow. She didn't know Dubbilex had allowed humans on the underground facilities. "And you are?"
"Jonathan Banks, Miss Danvers. The boss has me guarding the Zeta-Tube." The young man bowed towards her.
"Dubbilex himself gave the order? He's still supposed to be resting." Kara grumbled, and then sighed. The irony of her statement wasn't completely lost on her. "Well, keep up the good work."
Laying a hand against the door, she waited for the several identity checks to finish before the door slid open, revealing a long hallway. Stepping inside, she felt the door snap closed behind her and hurried towards the other side before the enclosed space started bothering her.
A second check and the other door opened as well, finally letting Kara out into the Genomorphs's underground facility.
Finding Dubbilex still in his wheelchair and talking with Guardian had Kara pause. She considered both men, but decided that she couldn't blame him for getting immediately involved with organizing things, not when he was the current leader for their entire race.
"Dubbilex, Guardian, I take it everything is in order?" She greeted them as she walked into the room.
"Good evening Miss Danvers." Dubbilex nodded back.
"Evening Miss. Ah, I'd really prefer you just called me James." Guardian said, scratching at his newly grown beard. "I'm giving up the Guardian persona; it doesn't have very much to do with me."
"Are you retiring from hero work completely?"
"Well, I still plan to act as chief of security here, but I'm not using my costume anymore." The redhead answered and stepped away from the desk, allowing Kara to sit down on the comfortable chair there.
"Speaking of security, what's this about normal humans down here?" She tested the chair a little before fully concentrating on both of them again.
"Don't worry, the G-Gnomes are keeping an eye on everything, but some of the CADMUS personnel decided to stay with us and we are putting them to good use however we can." Dubbilex informed her, then considered things. "Also, I should warn you that a surprising number of humans in this city have grown close to some of us, and they're proving themselves trustworthy, some of us have already revealed ourselves."
Putting a hand over her regenerating eye, Kara sighed. "I guess it was really too much to ask for an entire race to remain hidden."
"Do you prefer we remain isolated? That we keep underground and permanently under illusions?"
"No, no, it's fine, as long as you continue to keep any recordings from getting out and are careful." Kara waved his accusations away. "I'll just have to be less involved with this facility so I can do a Lex Luthor and plausibly deny what happens here."
Truth be told, she would have preferred they did remain isolated and under illusion, at least for a little longer, a year or so. But Kara couldn't begrudge them, and she could work with it.
It would still be incredibly suspicious if someone found out but, with the Wayne contract, she was already looking to open a second factory, and an office in Metropolis. If things went wrong, she could just pretend she was being used. 'Oh no, they had a telepath, I didn't even know what was going on, I'm just a young human girl alone in the world.'
Shaking her head, Kara refocused. "So, how are we dealing with the whole CADMUS thing?"
"Well, you told us you were willing to blow the whole CADMUS debacle open once Luthor found out about it, so we told the scientists everything that was going on and offered them jobs." James answered, sitting down on his own chair at the other side of Kara's desk. "Once I explained that the other option wasn't death, most of them chose to leave, but a few stayed with us."
"I take it those who left have no idea where this is?"
"No." Dubbilex shook his head. "Although I wasn't here, they were under the G-Gnome's illusions the whole time. They don't even know what the facilities truly look like, much less where it is located."
"Good, so why exactly did I need to be here?" Kara asked, she had been perfectly willing to leave things in Guardian's hands and monitor from home for a few days.
"One of the remaining scientists, Doctor Amanda Spencer, had a breakthrough on the treatment of the Genomorphs." Dubbilex started, looking both happy and a little uncertain. "It will require constant treatment, but she has found a way to drastically slow down Genomorph deterioration."
"Do you need more funding? I told you I'd help however I can." Kara leaned forward, happy for her friend.
"We do require some equipment, but I called you here to discuss our shared relative." Dubbilex leaned forward, then grimaced as something pulled at his wounded side. "Kon-El has only a small amount of Genomorph DNA, and his Kryptonian heritage is helping to keep him healthy, but the treatment should still be able to improve his situation."
Well, now Kara was really interested. Leaning forward, she was about to continue questioning them when she realized something and couldn't help making a disgusted face. "Did you say her name was Amanda Spencer? Dr. Desmond's assistant, that Amanda Spencer?"
"…Yes." James said, leaning away from her with a worried face.
"The same genetic scientist that was part of Project Kr, happily played with my cousin's DNA without his consent, or any signs of professional ethics, in order to create Kon-El?" Kara felt her fingers digging into the table, carving into the wood as if it were butter.
"Miss Kara…" Dubbilex started to say, but Kara lifted a hand, interrupting him.
Slowly leaning back on her chair, she took a few deep breaths, noticing the small spots of red starting to gather on her vision and doing her best to calm herself.
Amanda Spencer wasn't a Psion; she probably wasn't an amoral woman that actually enjoyed causing pain and doing invasive experiments on people without applying anesthetics either, just one that didn't think through her actions.
Rao, Kara could understand getting lost into her own experimentation and not actually stopping to think about what exactly she was doing. She didn't know if she could forgive it, but she could understand.
"You… trust this scientist? Even after what she did?" She asked after she had finally calmed down enough.
"Doctor Spencer is not the most attentive, or the most caring, but she has been attempting to make amends since Kon-El escaped and we took over." The Genomorphs explained, being careful not to trigger her again.
Closing her eye, Kara thought about Kon and, more than him, she also thought about Match still resting in a pod at the Fortress. "Fine, but I want to talk with the woman first."
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