Drip.

Drip, drip.

Drip.

Drip.

Drip, drip, drip.

Drip.

Drip.

It was the annoying sound of dripping that caused her to wake up. Rao knew, she could sleep through just about anything and everything else... a point that her sister, Alex, had often pointed out during those long ago mornings when the elder sister had been responsible for getting them both ready for school. Blinking rapidly, awareness came slowly, a feeling that was different than what Kara was used to.

Shifting around in the chair, trying to find a more comfortable position, Kara... wait. Something was wrong. Very wrong. Why had she fallen asleep in a chair? What was going on?

Now very much alert, Kara kept her muscles relaxed and her eyes closed. J'onn had often stated that relying on sight was very human failing. There were five human senses, after all. Instead of opening her eyes, she instead started by listening.

The room was obviously large, based on the echo of sound; first, obviously, was the constant dripping that had initially awoken her, and from there she could discern the hum of electricity inside the walls, but also from the numerous other sounds of breathing, which led to heartbeats. The girl also known as Supergirl was both relieved and upset to recognize her sister and friends' presence nearby, mixed in with the many, many others. There were apparently a lot of other people here, as well. Kara began counting, but stopped after reaching thirty distinct breathing patterns. She'd ignore mentioning the snoring and mumbling. She wasn't alone, at least.

Using her nose was less fun. There was the aroma of various deodorants, body sprays, perfumes and body odors all around her. Above each of those, all mixed together in a virtual stew of yuck, coffee was being brewed. That was, most likely, the source of the dripping.

"What the f-?" A voice suddenly exclaimed. Loudly. Kara tried to hide her wince at both the ringing that temporarily caused in her ears, and for the fact that any chance of covert investigation was lost.

Opening her eyes, Kara felt her stomach drop deep into the pit of her stomach. She noted that all around the gigantic table that she was sitting at where literally almost all of the superheroes and hero support that she knew across at least three different Earths. Twisting to look to her left, the younger Danvers sister noted that Barry's best friend, Cisco Ramone, was standing and glaring at the front of the room.

Following his gaze, Kara saw four nondescript males, late thirties to early forties, standing at attention. Watching and waiting, apparently, but who knew for what.

Deciding to ignore the average joes, Kara turned to see that her sister was checking on Winn and... oh, wow. Maggie was here, too. Leaving that drama alone, Kara took a moment to move over to where Lena was rubbing at her temples.

"Are you okay?"

She was relieved to see those captivating green eyes clear and sparkling look into her own blue. "Not exactly the way I'd hoped to wake up next to you for the first time after we'd started dating, but I guess that's life when you're dating a superhero."

Fighting down the blush she knew was sporting, Kara still took the time to run her gaze over the other woman to confirm that she was unharmed. "Lena...". She protested. "Re-really? Here? Now?"

"There's never a bad time to see you blush, darling."

Choosing to ignore the brunette's cheeky reply, Kara moved her attention around the room. Across from where she had been sat, Oliver and Felicity were checking on Thea. Near them, Sara was having a conversation with Rip... a conversation she could have easily tuned in for, but she decided to let them keep their privacy. As her gaze continued to sweep the room, she wondered at who would have the audacity to bring so many heroes together... including...

"Kal?"

At his Kryptonian name, Superman raised his eyes to hers. At their silent acknowledgment, Kara immediately sought to find Lois. James was present; as was Lucy, even Cat Grant... but Lois was not at the table. She wasn't sure if she should be relieved or not. And by her cousin's expression, neither was he.

Several of the room's occupants were starting to get upset. Cisco had been standing, but he now was three seats over speaking with a Hispanic woman... and by their body language, the two were most likely in a relationship. Mick and Roy were arguing, and while their voices weren't overly loud yet, it was going to soon escalate to that point. Even Iris' father looked to have his temper rising, although that could be more from his new wife not being here.

She was debating stepping in, when the woman next to her squeezed her arm.

"Kara."

With Lena speaking her name, the blonde hero pulled herself from continuing her mental roll call of which of her friends... and their friends, were in the room, as well as what to do if they started fighting among themselves... well. No. No need to get into all of that. Now that Lena had brought her attention back, she realized that the four men that didn't belong were setting up a digital projector. Apparently, this class included show and tell.

"You attention, please." Plain looking guy number one spoke. At his words, everyone started to settle down, with most everyone retaking their seats. Once everyone seemed calm, Guy number one continued.

"I understand everyone's confusion at being brought here. How you were brought here and the why of it all. Let me begin by apologizing to each of you. This is all very unprecedented and, if we had any other viable solution, would not have been necessary... but the situation is grave. We were left with very few options and, as of last night, taking the chance on this enterprise seems to be the best hope we have for success."

He appeared as if there was more to say, but Oliver decided then that it was time to get answers. Kara smiled slightly. The Green Arrow was never one to wait for answers... the self styled leader of their merry little band of heroes.

"Just exactly who are you?" He began, and then immediately followed it up with most of the same questions she, and probably everyone else in the room, had as well. "Where are we? Who's the 'we' you keep referring to? What problem do you have that would make you think that abducting all of us would get you what you wanted?"

There were several vocalizations of agreement, as well as set looks of determination. Excluding that most everyone was sitting around such a large round table, the fact that the heroes were all in costume almost seemed, well... comical.

At Oliver's inquiries, guy number one sighed. Instead of immediately answering, he looked over his shoulder at guy number two. Number two apparently took that as enough of a sign as to become involved in the dialogue.

"Mr. Queen," Guy Number two began. "Or Green Arrow..."

At the higher octave at the end of Arrow, it was obviously a question. "Oliver is fine."

Guy number two nodded. "Of course. Oliver. We are the Editors. While there is no definitive explanation as to who or what we are in relation to you, all of you, suffice it to say, we are merely architects that have a responsibility towards the realty upon which you exist."

"Gods?" Caitlin asked with a dismissive snort.

"No. We are not gods. We have no benevolence or otherwise deciding upon the fate of your lives. We have no omnipresence to exploit. No magical powers to create nor destroy. No answered or denied prayers. No temples. No worship. In fact, we prefer to never be known. Invisible and forgotten. We are merely those that try to confirm that what happened yesterday corresponds with today and then allows for a strong continuity into tomorrow. In fact, mostly we simply observe, never needing to involve ourselves into anything whatsoever."

"So... you're like what? Watchers?" Wally asked. At his question, all four of the... Editors... seemed to share a small moment of amusement.

"We are not the Watchers. Those that claim that designation belong to Seebeesee." Guy number four momentarily raised his hand, most likely to signify that he was the one just named. "As stated, we are the Editors."

"Fine. Editors then." J'onn decided to interject this time. "Why are we here?"

Guy number one took over again. "I am Kayeff. It was my responsibility to care for my reality, to ensure that the continuity remained and the direction of progress continued on unhindered. I failed." He took a moment. "I entrusted too many important parts of reality to too many others and my reality buckled under the weight of improbabilities. Almost the entirety of my reality's heroes have been deleted."

"Deleted?" Kal spoke up.

Kayeff nodded. "They are no more. It is like they never existed."

Guy number two patted Kayeff on the shoulder, apparently in solidarity, before taking the front spot back again. "While Kayeff's reality has suffered greatly, we cannot allow it to simply fade away. There is too much investment. Too many lives to consider. The ramifications of such a failure could have a cascading effect across all of the realities. Even yours."

Barry stood. "So, what are you proposing? Do you expect us all to just jump into a different realty and save the day?"

Cisco chimed in. "Another Earth needing saving."

"No. Not another Earth." Guy number two argued. "This isn't an Earth you can vibe to, or break the Speed Force and access. We are talking Reality. The fundamental rules are different. There was never a Krypton. No Speed Force. Entire cities across the globe do not exist. None of you were ever born in this reality. Almost nothing of the lives you've led exist here."

"What do you expect from us then?" Oliver asked in the silence left from number two's quick rant. "How do we save another reality?"

Because, really?

Like any of them were ever going to say no?

"Could you repeat that, please?" Alex spoke. Kata ignored exactly how high the pitch of her sister's voice sounded. "Maybe in English this time, cause there's no way that what I heard is what you actually said."

Kayfee patiently smiled. "Alex Danvers. For this to work, it requires all of you to become the persons you are replacing."

"So I won't be Alex anymore?"

"Effectively? No." He continued on before he could be interrupted. "You will still be Alex Danvers. Inside. You will retain the memories and experiences of your reality. It will just be overwritten by the memories and experiences of who you will be replacing."

"But if your reality failed, won't that just lend to us failing, as well?" Cat Grant joined in on the argument. "How can we save anything if you're setting us up to fall down?"

"Time is variable, at the moment." Guy number two interjected. Apparently, his weird name was Geejay. "Since the near collapse of Kayeff's reality, the Editors have held everything together until a solution could be implemented. To help with that endeavor, we allowed entire years to fade into nothingness to allow for you to be carefully integrated with some foreknowledge of events, as well as the new relationships you will want created in the newly created amalgam reality."

"I'll still have Kara as my sister?"

"No. She won't be your sister in the new reality, but you will remember her as your sister. And she will remember you. You will just have formed newly defined relationships within Kayfee's reality."

"What about powers?" Jackson asked. It was weird seeing him without Professor Stein nearby. "Do we get to keep our powers?"

Geejay and Kayeff shared a look. "Yes." Kayeff finally responded. "It was our biggest debate, deciding if you would keep your powers and abilities, or rather be given the ones belonging to the persons you would be replacing. It took the Editors a lot of time making such broad sweeps of mental change, but I lost on that vote... although it did require a fifth Editor to be brought in to break the tie."

Geejay nodded. "You did get to keep each origin story, however. Now, just the results of each had different outcomes."

"True. That did help keep down much of the paradox fluctuations that might have occurred."

"Origin stories?" John Diggle had come over to listen in on the ongoing conversation.

"Yes. Take you, for example Mr. Diggle. You will now be known as a Nick Fury. Considered to be one of true movers and shakers of my reality. He had s the current leader of S.H.I.E.L.D., an organization not unlike A.R.G.U.S. was in your own reality. You were the creator of the Avengers Initiative, the super powered team that is preeminent within my reality."

"Really? Nice." He turned, his gaze finding Oliver across the room. "Hear that, Ollie? I'm a bigwig in the new reality."

Alex shook her head at the big man's antics. "And me? Who am I?"

"Actually, you are Maria Hill. You are second-in-charge of S.H.I.E.L.D. Often considered by many to be the actual brains behind Colonel Fury."

Kara's adoptive sister sat back and considered for a moment. "So not that much different than me now, huh?"

Geejay shook his head. "In most instances, we tried to match everyone as closely with their new reality counterpart as possible. Even with each reality growing organically on its own, many of the similarities are striking."

"Really?" Felicity asked.

"Really. You will also be a part of S.H.I.E.L.D., but in this instance, besides computer programming, you're being overwritten by Jemma Simmons. She is a most capable agent, as well as being a biochemical expert of both human and alien physiology."

"Wow. And Oliver? How will he and I be together?"

At her question, Kara noticed the slight grimace that quickly came and left the Editor's face. "While you were supposed to be in a relationship with Leo Fitz, we have altered the history for Jemma and Clint Barton, codenamed Hawkeye, to have met during your time at the S.H.I.E.L.D. Academy."

"Clint? His name is Clint?"

Alex laughed. "He kinda loses at the name game. First Oliver. Now Clint. I'm glad I get Maria now."

Felicity rolled her eyes. "Who's Leo? I mean, from our reality. Who was going to be Leo?"

"Cisco Ramone."

"Cisco?" Iris cooed. "He has such a crush on you, Felicity. He's going to be heartbroken that he almost got paired with you."

The smaller blonde fiddled with her glasses and didn't respond. Instead, she asked about some of the others.

"Well... the Avengers had to be filled out first. As stated previously, Oliver will be taking up the mantle of Hawkeye, the agent and archer. We decided that Steel, or Mr. Heywood, would fit into the role of Captain America quite nicely. Sara Lance... the White Canary will be the assassin Black Widow, also an agent of S.H.I.E.L.D.

"J'onn will be the Hulk..."

"What?" Alex asked.

"Yes. The Hulk was a very tricky one to choose. It was eventually decided that J'onn could bring a temperance to one of the most dangerous beings within my reality. And besides, calm and even tempered that turns into a large, green powerhouse? Does it not fit?"

When everyone present, including J'onn seemed to silently agree, Geejay continued. "Barry Allen easily fit into our speedster's role, Quicksilver."

From across the room, Kara listened while Cisco was grousing about all of the names he'd come up with being tossed aside... not to mention how nice some of the new code names were.

"Caitlin will be Scarlet Witch. We decided Ray Palmer will be Ant-Man. Kendra will be the Wasp. Carter Hall as Falcon."

"A lot of our reality's teams are getting matched." Lena noted.

"On purpose. The Legends work well together, and most of them have close ties with Team Arrow and Team Flash. It made since to put people together. Since having close ties and working relationships are needed, we tried to fit people together. Dinah could have fit in the role of Black Widow. Even Alex or Thea, but none had as much of a match as Sara."

"You're leaving out a few of the bigger named members." Iris threw out there. "Iron Man. Vision. Even Iron Patriot."

Geejay grew quiet. "Not all matches were perfect. Some had to be improvised to fit the necessary role." He paused again. "Lena Luthor will be Iron Man."

"What?" Came from several corners of the room.

Kara began to get offended for her girlfriend, but before she could say anything, the Editor continued. "Genius. Aloof. Has the technical and engineering background to support the possibility of creating the armor. Who else would we have chosen?"

"Me, maybe?"

At Ray"s question, the Editor nodded. "A definite possibility. But could you be hated as Tony Stark was? Is? Could you take the condemnation that he.. now a she, takes on a daily basis?"

In the silence of the questions, Barry spoke. "I think it's brilliant. No one better, really." And Kara knew that Barry was a hero in that mo ent, not just to her, but to Lena, as well."

"Winn Schott will be Iron Patriot. He has worked well with Lena previously, and while not the immediate image of a military man, he had shown remarkable aptitude during his time at your reality's DEO."

Alex decided then it was time to ask THE question that she'd been trying to ignore since they'd decided to help Kayeff save his reality.

"What about Kara? Who's she going to be?"

Seebeesee answered. "She will be Thor."

"Kara Zor-El was a most difficult quandary." Kayeff spoke up. "We knew that out of the various heroes you offered, only Kara and Clark could fit into a god's place... and while Clark, as Superman, might have seemed more obvious, Kara was the better choice."

Geejay nodded. "Excluding the exterior similarities of red cape and blonde hair, Kara has the truer heart needed to succeed where my Thor faltered. We feared that using Superman in those same scenarios would only cause the repetition of failure."

"Then who is Kal going to be?" Kara asked.

"He will be the Vision. The power set is similar enough and, while for different reasons, the Hammer of Thor's office responded to both."

"Kara." Lena suddenly spoke up. "We get to be teammates."

Picking up on her girlfriend's excitement, Kara laughed along with the other woman. "We'll be unstoppable."

"This is nice and all, but why are there so many non heroes included for this?" Cat Grant decided to throw some water on the situation. Kara and Lena had been jumping up and down like two schoolgirls before a Bieber concert.

"Again, Ms. Grant, we needed working relationships. While it was discussed to just force the overwritten feelings upon you..." Geejay had the decency to look embarrassed. "Level thinking prevailed and we chose to allow feelings that you each share with one another to work.. especially if it was required for your origins in the new reality."

"You've said 'origin' before. What are you talking about?" John Constantine asked.

Guy number four.. or Emmgee, apparently, walked over to the digital projector and turned it on. There, on the display, was a fairly good looking man. Blonde and very well built, dressed in red, white and blue and carrying a shield.

"Take a Captain America, for example. During World War Two, he had experimental drugs injected into his system. He then gained extraordinary powers. In my reality, stamina and strength amplified greatly. Now, with Heywood keeping his own power set, he will go through Captain America's creation and costume, but can turn into metal."

"Okay. But why the non heroes?"

Emmgee nodded. "Peggy Carter was an almost love interest for Captain America in the past. We chose Ms. Whitmore... Star-Girl... to fill that spot, rather than try to fabricate feelings with someone that you didn't know."

Nate spoke up then. "But Courtney and I never..."

"Did you not find her attractive?"

Everyone ignored the growl that seemed to emanate from where Amaya stood. "Well, yeah. I mean, I guess."

The Editor nodded. "That was enough."

He turned back to the display as the picture changed. Now, let's consider..."