My biggest adventure
Chapter I: Not your typical Monday
Summary: Atlantis AU. Lena is still a CEO billionaire, but with a secret, Kara is a rambling scientist determined to solve the mystery of Atlantis. Is Lena helping out of the goodness of her heart or does she have an ulterior motive? Archaeology, adventure, mystery and dead language… what's not to love?
AN: Hi guys! Okay so, time for some rambling… it took me a while to post this, but I was a bit pissed after the whole comic con fiasco and still am, I'm not taking sides, just saying why it took me that long to write again. I have started working on this idea of an AU fic and I'm planning to write a few more chapters. I'm still not sure if it will be supercorp or what, but must admit I'm a sucker for them. It's going to be rated M for later chapters, just to be safe. There will be a lot in common with the original movies, but it will have some twists and turns obviously. If you feel offended at any point, just don't continue reading it. For the record, the timelines are a mess, so just look at this story as completely apart from everything else, it's set more or less after the return of H.G in Wh13, but she stays good (because she is an amazing kickass agent). The characters are not mine unless previously specified. And because I loved WH 13 and especially Wells and Bearing, I decided to play a little with these amazing women too. I'd appreciate every comment, kudos and share or bookmark, feedback is always welcome. Thank you and enjoy!
Atlantis 360 B.C.
It was quiet and everything looked still, too quiet and too still, it was like a view frozen in time, if it was not for the small white ash falling around. Any other day it could have been easily mistaken for a simple charming snow, but not today…
"Aias, you fool! You doomed us all!" – The man by his side shouted loudly.
The tidal wave behind them was gaining strength with each second and they could barely fly a step before it. One by one, the pilots would disappear into the treacherous water behind and nothing but muffled gurgling could be heard each time the wave devoured a pilot and his ketak.
"Sam! Catch!"- One of the only two surviving plots shouted to his wingman and the woman quickly lifted her right hand in the air, barely catching in the air the small crystal.
"No…" – It was barely a whisper, but the man didn't need to hear her words to understand her feelings. He had just traded his life for hers… for theirs…
"You have to go Sam! You have to warn them!" – Myrto shouted.
"There is no way we can both make it in time, but there is a way for one of us to rely the message before it's too late." – He tried reasoning with her, but Sam's eyes continued to show doubt. They were the first two pilots, the general and the second in command, they were ahead of the wave for now, but they needed to be faster. The ketak of the general and his second in command were not like the rest of the flying apparatus the Atlantis fleet used; these two had a special purpose exactly for these types of situations.
"Atlantis is not worth saving without you, Aias!" – She shouted back with unshed tears in her eyes. Desperation rained upon them as the ashes that was falling from the skies did.
"And what about Kida? Is Kida not worth it too?" – He knew that was a low blow, but he also knew that her love for Kida would make Sam change her mind quickly and sensing small droplets of water on his back, he knew he didn't have a lot of time left.
Sam was speechless, her heart torn between the loyalty towards her general and best friend and Kida, the greatest love of her life and after a moment of calculating countless scenarios in her mind, Sam looked down and nodded, letting a single tear escape her eyes.
"Go, Sam! Go!" – was the only thing she could hear as she slid the second crystal in the hole on the right, just next to her own crystal.
Sam didn't spare a second glance back, she didn't even flinch when she heard the clash of her general's ketak and the rocks, for without the power of the crystal the ketak could only fly a couple of miles under the sun.
Sam lowered herself even more on her ketak as it flew twice as fast as before. She had a mission. She had to warn Atlantis and find Kida before it was too late.
…and in a single day and night of misfortune all your warlike men in a body sank into the earth, and the island of Atlantis in like manner disappeared in the depths of the sea…
Somewhere in South Dakota 2017
Bzzzzzzzz bzzzzzzzz bzzzz… The non-stopping vibrations on the wooden table made the woman stir sleepy in bed. She never liked these new age gadgets, sure, they were very handy when you needed to get in touch with someone, but progress was in many ways overrated. Like for example now, at 5 am on a Sunday morning when even the birds were still asleep.
Bzzzzzz bzzzzzz… The phone, however, did not stop vibrating even after she declined the call the first two times.
"Oh bollocks!" – She said with a grumpy, slightly growly, dripping with sleep voice and finally pressed the green button on the screen.
"Nothing good comes out a phone call at 5 am on a Sunday morning" – She thought and after a couple of moments, a minute at most, her eyes enlarged, quickly forgetting any previous intentions of a lazy Sunday. She felt a shiver ran down her body and it had nothing to do with the crispy atmosphere in the room, while humming in agreement, the woman sat straighter on her bed and listened carefully before hanging up with a final "We'll be there in 20."
No rest for the wicked it seemed, so there was only one thing left for her to do. Turning slowly to her left, she saw familiar long curls sprawled all over the pillow next to hers, the woman lying beside her was sound asleep still judging by her soft, rhythmic breathing. Because she did not want another black eye or busted lip (that had happened a few times she tried to wake her girlfriend before), she gently hugged the sleeping beauty from behind and softly whispered in her ear.
"Myka… Wake up darling…" – Helena whispered softly, placing small kisses on the back of Myka's neck.
"Five more minutes." – That was always her usual response when she wasn't being woken up by the alarm on her phone or by Pete's excitement about freshly made cookies for breakfast, that man was the inspiration for the cookie monster on Sesame Street!
"Time for work, love. Mrs. Fredrick called and she sounded serious and… worried." – That registered clearly in Myka's mind and her body reacted automatically. Mrs. F never sounded worried.
"Next time we have a couple of days off we're turning off our phones and leaving the Farnsworths behind too." – Myka said while kissing Helena good morning and preparing to get up.
"I don't think that's very wise. Tempting yes, but have you forgotten what happened the last time we did that?" – Helena's tone was playful and the memory brought a proud smirk on her face while Myka blushed uncontrollably like a tomato and decided to dress quickly without any additional comment, no one could sass out Helena. Once dressed, Myka made her way downstairs to make some coffee and tea, seeing with how the day was starting they would certainly need it. Helena followed suit, but not before taking her phone and sending a quick text message while Myka was looking in the wardrobe for a shirt to wear.
The Smithsonian – Washington DC 2017
"… Atlantis was one of the most advanced and most interesting civilizations in ancient times, and now its mystery grows bigger and bigger with each year it passes. There are countless legends about this mythical land and some Greek scrolls even confirming its existence. Think about all the potential of the so called "power source" they had. It provided them with electricity long before Franklin even contemplated the idea. Think about how much we can learn from their culture and…" – The young woman was speaking excitedly, waving her hands around the various maps behind her, her mouth trying to catch up with the thoughts in her brain. The small conference room was occupied by an even smaller number of people in it, today was the last day that the museum would consider the projects for the upcoming expeditions and choose which to fund and which to send back to the drawing board for next year.
Mr. Harcourt was an old and grumpy man, with his shorter stature and wide body he was easier to jump over than pass by in some of the narrow corridors of the building. He always wore a khaki suit with a white shirt and for some unknown reason he always used fixing gel on the two hairs he had on the top his head. Although he was the director of the museum, his attitude towards scientists had never been very good, but he was good with politics and that secured him the seat as head of one of the most prestigious institutions in the world. He was patronizing with the men and even a little chauvinistic when it kame to Kara, he only agreed to hire her because HR had pressured him since a new law stated that there had to be a certain percent of female representation in each department.
There were a dozen or so men seated in the room, scattered around the free seats, making the small space look crowded, but there wasn't even a single one of them that payed full attention to the presentation in front of them. The last for the day.
"Kara, dear, thank you for your presentation. I see this year you even managed to add another 100 pages to your original thesis on Atlantis, but as the board already explained to you, we cannot fund your illusory expedition to search for something based on fairytales. Now…" – But before Mr. Harcourt could continue, Kara switched a picture of one of the maps with one of a text written on a papyrus. Apart from it being written in a language no one had ever seen before, even the few men in the room that were world famous linguists, the letters were also written in a style they could barely distinguish where one word ended and another began.
"Sir, I know that the two previous expeditions had no success, but they were searching in the wrong place. You see…" – Kara tried to speak before one of the men in the room that stood up rudely interrupted her.
"Are you saying you know better than us young lady? That you, with your 5 years after graduating, know more about history and linguistics than all of us who led at least 5 successful expeditions in only the last three years?" – Sir Merrick asked indignantly.
"I am not trying to insult your intellect nor your abilities, Sir Merrick, or those of your colleagues." – Kara's voice sounded sharp, for the first time in her entire life, her sweet face and voice meant business and she wouldn't let those old men stop her expedition out of pure bigotry this year too. True, they were brilliant in their fields, but their individual vanity and pride made it impossible for them to work together successfully. Moreover, they had decided if they could not do it, no one could and that was part of the reason why Kara presented the same project year after year.
"I am simply stating that your team had trusted blindly the initial information that was accepted as truth, you based your expedition on a clue that was false and misleading from the start. Your linguists used a page supposedly from the Shepard's journal and translated the location of Atlantis on "the coast or Ireland", but you neglected the finding of the Viking shield a few months prior to your expedition. Sir Ashold found the shield in a dig near Eyjafjörður fjord isn't that right?"
"That is correct." – Confirmed Sir Ashold that was sitting on the second row behind Sir Merrick.
"But the shield was not relevant to Atlantis…" – Merrick tried again.
"Except it was, if you had accepted the finding that Sir Ashold presented as valid, you'd have noticed how a linguistic error, a simple mistaken letter, was overseen by the great linguists that had the task of translating the journal. They thought that they were translating the journal when in fact it was a part from a papyrus found on Sir Merrick's previous expedition. And there lies my point Sir Merrick, the inscription from the shield points not to Ireland, but to Iceland!" – Kara practically shouted that last word and an uncomfortable silence spread across the room.
The men looked around them, looked at each other, all realizing their mistake and how right Kara have been all along and still none was willing to admit that a girl, no older than twenty eight bested the best, bested the men in this same room.
"Even if you are right Kara…" – Mr. Harcourt started, finally interrupting the silent debate between the men in the room and easing the palpable tension in the air.
"Your expedition has a lot of expenses and I am not sure this museum can afford to fund it. I am sorry, but at this point your evidence is not enough, what if you are wrong too and there is another clue missing from the puzzle? Are we going to pay your trips around the world every year? Just do something useful, go to Egypt and find a tomb or something, do like the rest of the archaeologists… if there is anything left to discover at all. " – The short man said in a condescending tone.
"Mr. Harcourt, I'd gladly let a team of your choosing take a look at my research to confirm my theory, but I am certain that I am right." – Kara had calmed down and had managed to sound like her usual self once more, but this time it had a tinge of desperation in her voice.
"Try next year, Kara" – He said with a final huff and started maneuvering his body in order to get up from the chair.
The blonde just shrug her shoulders and turned around, retrieving to get her materials and shut down her computer.
"I will fund your expedition, Miss Danvers." – Said a calm voice from the very back of the room, no one knew that person was even there.
The men that were just getting up from their seats suddenly turned all of their attention to the mysterious voice and slowly another young woman, around Kara's age maybe, but with jet-black, curly hair and piercing green eyes spoke again.
"Let's meet for lunch tomorrow and you can tell me all about your research, okay? My secretary will call you and tell you when and where."
"Miss Luthor, it's a pleasure to see you here, but perhaps you'd like to hear what out other scientists have planned." – Mr. Harcourt tried to steal her attention away from Kara, but it was clear she was having none of it.
"I already heard more than enough, Mr. Harcourt, thank you. I have been in this room since the beginning of the project presentations and I have made my mind. You can still expect my company's usual donation of course, but Miss Danvers' project will be funded privately." – The young Luthor said with a resolute tone and the whispers around the room intensified ten folds.
"Luthor? She is Lena Luthor?" – An uncertain whisper sounded launder than it should have.
"Yes gentlemen. My name is Lena Luthor, CEO of L-Corp and now, before you ask me to show you my ID and CV, I must get going. Time is money right?" – Her tone was icy and she looked straight at Kara before turning around.
"I will see you tomorrow Miss Danvers." – Lena said.
"Doctor… It's Doctor Danvers." – Kara said without even thinking that she was adressing one of the most powerful people in the world and certainly the most powerful one in the entire building and even country.
L- Corp was widely known for its sustainable energy technology and research, it had made some very impressive discoveries in the field of medicine and engineering too, but it had a dark past. The previous CEO, Lena's step brother, Alexander or Lex Luthor had dabbled in arms dealing and money laundering operations and many people still disliked the company. Some even went as far as to hate it and constantly trying to dig some dirt behind Lena's projects, but so far the young woman had only proven to be a helpful member of the society, a true philanthropist. She had even set various charitable funds that helped children's hospitals around the world and some even come to see her as a role model. Either way, everyone had an opinion of her.
Lena Luthor wasn't used to being corrected. She was used to old, vain men, trying to look powerful when in fact was the opposite, but she was rarely corrected. So, she just turn her head to Kara, nodded silently and made her way out of the room, making sure nobody saw the hint of a smile that appeared on her face.
TBC