Kara sat on the floor, doing her daily meditation in the morning since she wouldn't be able to meet Kal later. She hadn't had any great results with manipulating her bioelectrical field yet, but she found herself feeling far more centered. Kal's exercises really were useful.
Kori's presence in her life and her talks with Black Canary had also helped a lot and, coupled with actually going out of the house for patrols, Kara felt like she was finally… alright? Even if she had avoided talking with the Titans about the volcano yesterday, leaving the place before they had returned. She'd do it later.
Alright, she was still VERY far from getting over things, but at least she was making progress instead of ignoring her problems or running away.
Letting out a breath, she finished her meditation and adjusted her position. Looking at the clock, she saw that it was already one in the evening, so Kara stretched her arms above her head and felt her stomach rumbling.
Getting up, she absentmindedly scratched Dexter's sleeping head on top of the table and opened the fridge. Nudging some mustard monstrosity aside with a finger, Kara found some untainted left-over meat and grabbed the plate. Her appetite really was getting better every day.
With a blast of her vision, she heated the food and sat at the head of the table to start snacking. In two hours, she'd have to meet with Bobo, going to see this 'informant' of his. Kara already had a casket of her little drones ready for him and her armor was waiting in her room, having been teleported there earlier in the morning.
She had considered going as Supergirl, but she was about to plot against The Light and the Injustice League, they had strategic powerhouses like Wotan, Atomic Skull and Black Adam, as well as the Joker for planning things, she didn't want to take any chances.
Noticing movement from the corner of her eye, Kara saw the cat sneakily drop to the seat beside her own. Hidden from view by the table, he lifted a single paw, extending his claws and trying to hook a piece of her meat from her place.
Kara snorted and cut some of it into tiny pieces, offering them to the feline. Satisfied, she dropped the plate on the sink for one of her house drones to clean and picked up a small orb from her bedroom.
She could have pulled her computer to tinker a little, but all of her projects would need far more time than she had available right now and she'd end up just wasting the hours with some silly device she'd never use.
Instead, she laid the orb on the floor and stepped away. Sitting back down in a meditating position and focusing all her mind into the small target, she gathered her willpower, commanding the ball to move.
She had yet to access the Green Light of Will, but she was determined to master her ability to conjure it anyway.
Truth be told, Kara would have much rather just… gotten rid of the damn organ those fuckers had put inside her. The increased power was NOT worth having something of theirs inside her. Unfortunately, things weren't that simple.
The Fortress had called it an organ and while it was correct, it was far more akin to her skin than just a heart or lung. The way it had integrated itself into her body meant taking it out would require extensive surgery and the AI just wasn't made for such things.
No, having the Fortress AI operating on her was already bad enough, but she could, maybe, manage it. Having to ask someone else to slice her open and tool around inside her? Absolutely not!
Still, Kara had considered just ignoring the ability, but it wouldn't do to lose control of her emotions in the middle of a battle like she'd already done. It had helped her defeat Lobo and even fight against Felix Faust, but it was far more likely to be a liability if she completely lost her mind.
Her ability to think much faster than most other beings was one of her greatest advantages, losing herself to rage was not worth the increase in power. It was only by pure luck that she'd gone berserk while there were only enemies, or at least no allies or civilians, on the battlefield and, even worse, that said enemies hadn't been able to take advantage of it.
So, she was left with learning to control the Emotional Light Spectrum, even if, as a Kryptonian, her sheer raw power made it almost irrelevant unless she reached a really high level of mastery. Like, Hal Jordan and Sinestro level.
Really, her time would be far better spent improving her creations and working on new inventions. Frowning, she focused on the little marble even harder, letting all distractions go as she WILLED it to move, it would move, she demanded it!
It didn't. The ball just remained in place, not even a hint of green around it.
Wait, wasn't she being stupid? Yes, most of the time, all she saw the GLs create were fists, blasts of light, force fields and the occasional gun but, theoretically, they could create anything. Kara knew that, from both of her lives, even if she had never been a great fan of their comics, she had just been ignoring it because of where such powers came from.
Heck, hadn't GL recently been using his ring to effectively create bombs? She wanted that, she really wanted that. She wouldn't have the ring's AI to help her create things, but she didn't need to, she was a member of the El house, Rao damn it!
She didn't need to be strong; she didn't need to have a greater willpower, rage or any of the other emotions. Her constructs could be fragile enough to be destroyed with a tap of her finger and, as long as she could form them with enough control, she could make anything, recreate any device from Krypton without the need for materials or tools.
She wanted that, she really --WANTED THAT--!
Suddenly, Kara looked down, seeing the little marble sitting in her hand, a hint of orange light surrounding it. Staring at the marble with a frown, Kara sighed.
"Great, of course I'd get the villainous lights first. What's next, fear?" It was an uncomfortable possibility. "Let's just hope nobody could sense that."
Seeing as Atrocitus hadn't found her after her use of the Red Light, Kara was fairly certain he couldn't sense her from that far away and without a ring. Hopefully, the damn bastard that controlled the Orange Light couldn't as well. She didn't know a lot about Larfrezz, only his name and that he was not-so-coincidentally the single lantern from his corps. Rao, even his name may be wrong, she didn't have the same memory in her last life.
Fuck, Kara needed to get some guidance here, but she REALLY didn't want to risk talking with one of the active GLs. She'd bet just about anything the Guardians would learn about it and she didn't know how they'd react. Maybe Danni could introduce her to Alan Scott later? If he was even alive, that is.
Putting the marble back in place, she started over, making sure to focus on her willpower, not her desire for it to move. Kara realized she was probably most suited to Red and Orange, but she didn't want to risk training those without learning more or getting a spotter capable of stopping her from running wild if she lost control.
Almost two fruitless hours later, she put the marble away and stepped into her armor. The dark metal closed around her body as the systems came online. The armor flickered briefly and then disappeared from view, to the point that even a Kryptonian would have to focus in order to see it. A brief test later and Kara was ready.
Grabbing the crate of drones, she activated her small teleportation platform, reappearing kilometers away over Happy Harbor. Since they were going out today, Bobo had decided to stay in the city after teaching the Titans.
The platform disappeared back to the Fortress as soon as Kara stepped away, leaving her alone in the city. A brief sensor search and she found Bobo's location, flying towards him.
"Detective," Kara greeted, her voice modified by the armor to be completely unrecognizable.
Bobo adjusted his cap, looking up at where her voice was coming from, but unable to see the giant armor. "Forge, come on, the owners really didn't appreciate my stay here."
"They dislike supers?"
"They disliked the smoker loitering," Bobo corrected, pulling a fresh cigarette from his pocket as he stomped his previous one out on the ground. "Come on, we're walking there."
"You managed to arrange a meeting here?" she asked in surprise, but the chimp just shook his head.
"Not exactly here, but you can find it in a lot of cities. The place is flexible like that."
A chimpanzee dressed like an old detective walking around the city and talking to himself gathered a few looks, but not as many as Kara would have thought. The existence of Superheroes really did make things very different.
Detective Chimp may be a talking animal, but he wasn't any of the famous heroes or villains. Yes, people stared, but they quickly dismissed him from their minds. Kara felt as if it was like they saw a very minor celebrity, interesting but, ultimately, unimportant for their daily life.
Turning a corner, Kara saw a small door, a sign with a beer mug on top of it. The door seemed to be squeezed between two buildings and Kara couldn't see how there could be a pub there unless it was on the second floor, there was some kind of separated dimension or it was using magic.
Glancing down at Bobo, she sighed. It was magic, wasn't it? She hated magic.
"Do deactivate the invisibility once we're inside, some of the patrons may not react well to presenses they can't see with their eyes," Bobo said and opened the door.
There was a small bell sound announcing their entrance. Kara immediately dropped the cloaking effect, revealing her full armor for everyone to see. Fortunately, it seems like she fits right in… in a manner of speaking.
The bar was wide, with an extremely high ceiling and an old appearance. Everything looked like it was an antique, but it was very well preserved and slightly illuminated slightly by modern lights, giving it a cozy atmosphere. There were at least 20 tables, more than half of them filled with drinking patrons. Despite the time of day, the place was nearly full. Though, with magic involved, Kara couldn't be sure these patrons had used an entrance that was in Happy Harbor's time zone.
The patrons themselves were incredibly varied. Kara saw at least two different tentacle beings, a long haired warrior wearing several skulls talking with a blonde kid wearing royal purple, a purple hat covering his shoulder length hair, Blue Devil himself was sitting in a corner booth, drinking beer and laughing with a super wearing a green cape and a full body suit made with scraps of cloth of several different colors.
At another corner, an obese man sat with what was clearly a demon of some kind, a suited man that wouldn't be out of place in a law firm and an old man wearing a red costume, a large cape at his back and a horned skull helmet covering most of his head. The old man was clearly annoyed at being here, but the others were laughing and eating with enthusiasm.
Bobo walked directly to the bar and Kara followed, being mostly ignored by the other patrons. Some gave her a few glances thanks to her clearly technological armor, but there were at least three armored individuals here, even if they were closer to medieval full plate than power armor.
Sitting down on a stool, Bobo lifted a finger and a man wearing a red cape and a skin tight black suit that covered his entire body, leaving only his face exposed, poured him a glass of whiskey.
Turning towards her, the man smiled. "Welcome. I'm Nightmaster, the proprietor. It is always nice to have a new customer, even if you don't seem the usual sort to find yourself in my establishment."
"I suppose you don't get too many technological armors here," Kara nodded, taking another look around the room. "Forge, nice to meet you."
"Here's to making new friends!" Bobo saluted and finished his shot of whiskey before motioning for Kara to put the Drones on top of the counter. "Nightmaster, I gave a bunch of sidekicks a lesson yesterday and the League handed me some of those, you mind handling it?"
"And what might 'these' be?" Nightmaster pulled out a drone and eyed it critically, twisting it between his fingers.
"Recording devices, they have those shields too and can act like a phone," Bobo explained, pulling out one of his own drones from his pocket. "It won't hold up to a heavy hitter, but they can be very useful for street level conflict."
"Huh, that would have been nice to have before my retirement," Nightmaster muttered, picking up one of the drones and rolling it between his fingers. "Nice to see the League remembers the little guys every now and then. I will make it available to some of my customers, but I will not push it."
Bobo nodded, after all, that was about all he had been asking for.
Looking up at the drinks they had available, Kara noticed that all of them had superhero names. "No villain drinks?"
"I do not support villainy. The former owner ran a neutral establishment and I still honor that, but I will not name any of my drinks after villains."
"Fair enough," Kara wanted to try some of the more recognizable names, but she didn't want to take off her helmet. Turning back to the chimp, she asked. "Has the one we'll be meeting arrived yet?"
Bobo patted her armored waist and shook his head. "Not yet. Listen, I'm gonna talk with some of the boys, I'll be back in a second, enjoy the view."
Seeing as she wasn't going to order anything and one of his patrons was calling from the opposite side of the counter, Nightmaster gave her a nod, poured her a cup anyway and prepared to leave. "Here, the first drink is on the house. I'd not have you leave without tasting my hospitality."
Kara considered the small glass for a moment, should she drink it? Was this some kind of magical hospitality thing going on or would it just be rude to leave it?
"Ugh, magic," Activating her holographic projector, she hid her face and unlocked the helmet, lifting it only enough to be able to sip the alcohol. Still, she shielded her face with one of her armored hands, counting on the Nth metal in the gauntlets to block the view of any magician peeking.
Putting the cup back down, Kara froze, only her bulky armor prevented her from jumping away as a stranger appeared at the seat right beside her in the blink of an eye.
"Apologies, I did not mean to frighten you," the man said, tilting his hat down in greeting. He wore a black suit and cape, with gray hair showing below his hat and entirely white eyes that seemed to contain some inner power. "You have come very far wanderer. Farther than you even expect, I'd guess. Would you care to exchange some words with me?"
Kara stared at the man for nearly a full minute, she didn't recognize him. Were it not for the eyes, he'd probably fit perfectly in with one of Bruce's parties, but she wasn't about to underestimate him. "And who are you?"
"Men call me The Phantom Stranger and, like you, I'm a wanderer," he said with a small smile on his face. "We are more alike than you imagine, both strangers in a foreign land between the furrow and the stars. Like me, your presence has caused ripples, as if a rock was cast onto a still pound, some have been for the better, others… not. I am here to warn you, the board has changed, much faster and drastically than you ever expected."
"… and I take it this warning is out of the goodness of your heart?" Kara asked. She had heard the name mentioned in her previous life, but she had never read any comic with the character, she had no idea of his motivations or powers. "If you know so much, why come to me instead of doing something yourself?"
Looking at her, he gave a bitter smile. "I steer, but I cannot lead. That has always been my fate," he answered calmly, not moving from his position, but Kara could sense tired resignation in his voice.
She took that in, trying her best to remember what she knew about the being. He was powerful, but she didn't know in what way. She recalled him being heroically inclined, although she wasn't sure how much and worked with Constantine from time to time… that last tidbit did not help her relax.
She had read something about him being Judas, but he didn't wear the coins on his neck, using a medallion instead. Ugh, she really did hate dealing with Magic, it was so hard to predict. Give her a mechanical enemy any day of the week, at least those only did what they were built to.
The man turned to stare at her helmet, his eyes seeming to look beyond her shielding, beyond even her body to stare directly into her soul. Finally, he spoke.
"Before you, the play had been written, the story told, even if it had not been finished. You bring change, movement, chaos and, as you well know, chaos is not on your side," fuck, did that mean that Klarion was stronger because of her? Would Fate be against working with her because of this? "Heed my warning. The coils of your enemies are everywhere. They're cold, malignant and may look alike, but do not make the mistake of thinking they have a single source nor do they act towards the same goal."
"Forge, he's here," Bobo said, drawing Kara's attention away from the Phantom Stranger for a second, when she looked back, he was already gone.
"Detective, what do you know about The Phantom Stranger?"
"Tall chap, wears a hat and a trench coat, likes to talk too much?" Bobo asked, frowning at her. When Kara nodded, his frown became worse. "Yeah, he's not good news. Never gets directly involved with anything nor fights any battles but, every time he appears, things tend to go Old Testament. People turning into pillars of salt and rains of fire, that kind of thing."
"Great, that's just great," Kara mumbled under the helmet, looking through the pub to see their target. The obese man and his group had left and, at his table, there was a single, older gentleman wearing a top hat and a mutton chop beard. "Is that him?"
"Yeah, Wizard, former minion for The Light," Bobo nodded, starting to walk towards the isolated table. "That debacle with Wotan blocking the sun always smelt bad to me, but I didn't have time to investigate it. When you came to me with information about The Light, I started looking into other magical powerhouses that could be working for them.
"Faust, Wotan, Blackbriar Thorn, Wizard, White Magician, The Light got to them all. Heck, they even spoke with Morgaine, but the old witch kicked them right out her castle. Well, you already killed Faust, White Magician escaped the same day, probably took the same deal. But, I did manage to get a meeting with Wizard," Bobo snorted, finally arriving at the table and pulling out a chair. "Mr. Zard here is a terrible human being, but I doubt he's working for them because he wants to."
"Humph, I am a gentleman and a professional. I didn't learn magic just to be forced to obey that childish abomination," Wizard snorted, taking off his top hat, he bowed towards Kara. "William I. Zard. Can I presume the pleasure of meeting the one who attacked Infinity Island and dealt with Faust?"
As soon as she approached, Kara's armor registered a flicker of energy and her devices had trouble recording any audio from the nearby tables, she still had several drones around her to keep watch and make sure, but it seems like the place was somehow warded for privacy.
"Forge, and yes. His increased powers did make the fight slightly harder, but not by too much," she answered, causing her eyes to shine red under her helmet. It was purely esthetic, but the intimidation worked, Kara could sense his heart speeding up a little. "So, you want out? Why should I help you?"
"That's the beauty of it, you don't need to," Wizard answered, putting his top hat back on and combing his beard with a hand. "Now that Klarion no longer has such a monopoly on the magical underworld, I've more than enough to be left alone. As long as he remains busy, that is. Pushing you in their direction will do that, even if you don't wish to help me."
Kara nodded, she could understand the villain. It was almost poetic, The Light kept throwing problems at the Justice League to keep them busy and achieve their objectives. Now, its own minions were doing the same thing to them. Oh how she loved the irony.
"Good, but just so we're clear, if you're trying to trap me, I am NOT the Justice League. I will kill you, do you understand?"
"Perfectly," Wizard nodded casually, having recovered from his initial reaction and not seeming too preoccupied with the threat. Kara didn't know if that meant he wasn't intending to lie or if he was just too used to such deals. At least all the sensors on her armor seemed to think he was being honest.
"Very well, what do you know about The Light?"
"Not much, the leaders kept things compartmentalized, I only know about Klarion himself and Savage. Guessing about Klarion's goal is fairly easy, but Savage is old, old and cunning," grabbing his staff, Wizard caused a small magical circle to form in the air and pulled out a map. "This is a map of the latest location I have been to, Marduk's Temple in the center of Bialya. Klarion seemed really interested in the location."
It was Bobo who grabbed the map, reading over it carefully, but his ears never left the conversation as Wizard talked about what he had done for The Light, they spoke for a long time, but the actual information wasn't a lot, they seemed to have just used him as a consultant or to coordinate some of his attacks.
Still, getting more insights about how The Light operated was valuable enough and, even if Kara couldn't use the information herself, she had recorded everything for later review by Bobo, Batman or anyone else that wanted.
"What do you know about the Injustice League?" Kara finally asked. She was sure the villain hadn't told her the whole truth about his activities, but he had told her enough.
"A scapegoat, anyone could see that," he shook his head and leaned back against the seat. "Klarion was gonna force me to participate, but Wotan needed rescue after his attack and he owed the creature a favor."
"So, they know it's meaningless?" She asked. She was under the impression that The Light had tricked most of the Injustice League's members.
"That group would never be enough to face the entire League, even those maniacs can see that," Bobo interjected, cutting off Wizard before he could speak. "Besides, if villains of Wizard and Wotan's caliber felt compelled to obey, The Light had enough power to take on the League any time they wanted, at least before they started losing cohesion, doing it was just never their goal."
"Well, I'm not so sure. The Joker spoke with Klarion, so he probably just thinks it's all a huge prank and I suspect Vertigo is pompous enough to actually believe they can get away with it," Wizard told them, his face serious as he shook his head. "But the others knew."
"Any idea where Poison Ivy is being held?"
"I know a few locations. There were a lot of possible safe houses that were considered for the meetings," he told her, seeming to think about the situation. "I could find out more, but Savage is feeling paranoid right now, so I won't. Not unless you can offer me something better than what you're already doing just by existing."
Only a few minutes later, Wizard had written the locations and addresses on a piece of paper Kara had provided. She recognized a lot of cities, including her own Phoenix, but had no idea where to start.
Bobo took the paper from her and only gave it a quick glance before handing it over again.
"Well, it seems like our meeting is concluded gentlemen. I do sincerely wish you good luck in your endeavors. After all, I benefit from them," tipping his hat again, he got up.
Kara thought about stopping the man when he got up, but a shake of the head from the chimp made her remain in place as Wizard adjusted his old style clothes and grabbed his cane.
As he was walking beside her, he paused, barely having to glance down to look at her helmet. "Hmm, almost forgot, be aware that Klarion was enlisting support this last week. He was planning to do something and, with everything that was happening, I believe the others probably forced him not to act alone… as much as the little abomination can be forced, that is."
Kara waited until the villain was completely out of the pub before asking. "Why stop me?"
"Nightmaster is a friend, it would be rude to bring you in, only for you to cause a scene on your first night," the chimp answered, lighting another cigarette. "Besides, I know where she is."
Kara glanced at the paper and grunted, her face still looking at the ape as he tapped a nail on a single name.
"I guess she could be in Phoenix or Hub City too, but she's probably here. Midway City is urbane enough to keep her powers in check, doesn't have any hero anywhere near it and the place has enough comfort for someone like Vertigo while also having enough violence to amuse the Joker… I also have some reports from there I was already looking into."
Suddenly, Kara's hearing caught the faint sound of screaming, turning around; she stared at a huge TV above the pub. Nightmaster was increasing the volume and several of the patrons were now focused on it.
Before, the TV had been playing some soccer game, but now it showed a scene out of a horror film. The subtitles read, Salem, Massachusetts, Justice Society of America Reunites?
The cameraman was in a helicopter a few kilometers away from the city, but Kara could see burning buildings, some of which were actually moving as if alive, a lot of smoke and a fracture on the sky that seemed to pour out large tentacles that held balls of light, fur stuck out from several places and there were crude hands forming that grasped towards a few small figures fighting against it.
"Yog-Sotha," Kara heard one of the patrons whisper, but she ignored him to focus entirely on the image.
Rao, what in the frozen hells was going on? Was this what the Wizard was warning about? A little late wasn't it? Wait, she recognized that plasma sword…
Bursting in motion, Kara ran out of the bar as fast as she could. She almost broke the small door in Happy Harbor and then called her personal teleportation platform while ignoring the odd looks she was getting. She had a friend to save.
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