A/N: Hey guys! Thanks for the support so far! Here is chapter 2 of the epilogue fic featuring one epic fight (I'm keeping it simpler compared to the prior fic though). Next chapter is the conclusion to the crossover and the return to Earth-38 and back to the usual swing of things ;)
Sorry for the later than expected upload, someone needs to get my adviser a memo that I am but one person, I shouldn't be doing the work of 5 grad students, but then again, I really should try not to outdo myself with his expectations… oh well.
I'm currently at a conference, but since I have some down time between talks I want to attend and I actually have an excuse to hide in a room and just do nothing, I'll try to write as much as I can so I can be more consistent with the uploads. Thank you for the continuous support, comments, and reviews. Most of all, thank you for the patience between the uploads!
This time it was different.
The next round will be their last and Kara had faith that they would win.
After going through a long round of introductions and awkward explanations – and a whole lot of grunting from Kon who wasn't particularly fond of remembering that he was part Lex – the group of superheroes tried to focus on what was important.
It felt weird being surrounded by a bigger team of heroes, weirder to see a version of Deathstroke who seemed to be willing to help them with their cause, and a tiny bit funny to see Diggle take a few shots of whiskey to fully process the crazy side of how Kon and Laura came to be, but nonetheless they managed.
Cisco kept tutting, shaking his head as he examined Kon, much to his annoyance. He made it clear that he was in awe of Superboy – who kept insisting that since Superman wasn't in this earth, maybe who could be called Superman only to get shot down Lucy's argument that his youthful appearance insists he be called Superboy – but he wasn't entirely in awe of how he looked. Kara had to admit, what he said was a total headscratcher but she let them be, especially since Cisco disappeared to Rao knows where afterwards. Kon easily made friends with Wally, Roy, and Thea.
Kara pretty much watched over Laura, wanting to make sure she doesn't wreak havoc in their base of operations, she can get a little too excited sometimes and that easily translates to uncontrolled display of power. Sara teased her, of course, while she let Barry and Iris get to know her little girl. Meanwhile, her better half was currently hard at work with Curtis, Ray, and Winn. Lucy was settling in nicely, their DEO agent representative so to speak as she explained that Alex was dealing with a few things back home with the help of Kate, James, Maggie, and Tim, who was tempted himself on jumping along with Kon. Kara was a little worried upon hearing the news but Lucy reassured them that it was no big trouble and that their friends have got it.
It was a little past midnight. Things where still quiet and Laura had fallen asleep on a makeshift couch next to where Lena was working. She was getting a little edgy with how quiet it had been, half expecting something big to go down at any moment. That was when Cisco remerged from wherever he was working, still a little worse for wear with his injuries but rather smug at knowing that he was still able to help out. He approached Lena and the two talked for a while before they both gathered Kara and Kon.
Five minutes later and Kara understood. It didn't take long to change but standing in the mirror. Noticing and appreciating the details and chuckling under her breath as Lena shut down Cisco's suggestion that Laura also get changed with hers was really what took the time. On that note, as much as Kara thinks the costume was adorable, she was with Lena on this.
There was no way Laura was going to fight against the Legion of Doom.
"But, she could be the cute mascot or muse or something. Boost team morale." Cisco argued, holding up the cute blue, red, and yellow onesie suit with the red cape, mustering his most charming smile of all.
Lena didn't even need to answer to silence his arguments, she merely raised an eyebrow and clenched her jaw a little and Cisco was cowering back, handing the suit to Lena suggesting that Laura could maybe still use it for Halloween at the very least.
Which wasn't that bad of an idea, Kara could at least imagine it. Plus, it would come in handy when she starts training Laura.
But for now, Kara admired her new lead-lined suit. It still looked the same, but the fabric was now covered with a thin film of lead. They used the same simple idea Kate used for her Batwoman suit, spraying it with a specialized solution each time to make it stab-resistant. In this case, it was kryptonite-proof. The challenge was, of course, the effects would wear off eventually, hopefully not for a few good hours. They also applied a top coat to make it hydrophobic, or something like that, in case they come up against liquefied versions of kryptonite. Not that Kara had encountered that specific form of it since the Lillian Luthor had her bound in the Cadmus base they destroyed, but one can never be too sure. The solution made the blue of her suit look a little bit darker but still not noticeable by the human eye. Hey cape, and her crest, however, was completely interwoven with lead.
"It was something that Kate explained once. Why she, the Batman and company, wore such highly noticeable crests." Lena explained. "It's to give people a target. It also means they added more protection to that area, it's got more layers, it's more armored. Following that logic, the crest has to be more heavily protected. As for the cape, it just made more sense to have the lead embedded in it to provide additional protection. You can wrap it around yourself to use as some sort of shield. Honestly, I don't know why we didn't do this sooner."
"We really didn't think about that when we were making the costume." Winn then noted, standing behind Lena as she and Cisco admired their handiwork.
"But do I really have to wear this?" Kon then grumbled next to Kara as he was examining his own costume. It was a newly designed suit that Cisco made. It was a one-piece suit with the top part blue and the bottom red. It had a large House of El symbol on his chest with everything above the crest colored black. It was adorned with a black belt, and paired with a black leather jacket, long black boots, and goggles.
Oh, the goggles.
Kon looked at it strangely and in truth the only reason he agreed to wear the colorful outfit was because Lena insisted that he does and for some reason Lena works wonders with that kid. He always listens to her.
"Well, you needed something better than a black shirt that made you look like a grungy Supergirl fanboy." Cisco argued.
"I have a suit. A really cool stealth suit. I could have hoped on back and retrieved it from Earth-38." Kon countered.
"Yes, but we might not have the time. Besides the suit is sprayed with the same solution used on Supergirl's, the jacket and crest is heavily lead-lined. And the goggles have an added feature."
"Like?" Kon replied sarcastically, still a little irate.
"Oh, we've been adjusting battle plans. Our last attempt in subduing Grodd was horrendous at best. We need someone who can take him down. If he goes down, his army goes down, and who better to take him down but a Kryptonian." Cisco then said. "The goggles are equipped with all you'll need to resist any psychic attacks from him, so for the love of God, don't lose it. Don't remove it."
"Wait, you mean to tell me, I'm leading my own team?" Kon then asked, and Kara had to chuckle at how he was starting to soften to the idea of wearing his new suit.
"You're more like that team's secret weapon." Winn then interjected.
Kon smiled a little, totally warming up to the idea when the alarm system alerted them of simultaneous attacks all over, from Star City to Hub City, their enemy was moving.
"Duty calls, Kon. You ready Superboy?" Kara then turned to him and asked.
And Kon grinned. "Ready as you are Supergirl."
Keystone City was having one hell of a night.
But then again so were a few others. In the distance, Kon could hear the exchanges and blows of neighboring Central City where Flash took to fighting in the streets for another round against his archenemy while Sara lead her own small team to handle Darkhe comprised of Amaya and Nyssa somewhere in nearby Coast City. Then of course the big battle was at Star City where Brainiac moved his invading forces and where Kara took the fight with her own team.
A part of him wanted to rush to her side and help her take him down.
But the other told him Lena's plan would work one way or another and he was needed here, and so here was where he would stay.
Right in the thick of it against Grodd and his army of gorillas.
Arsenal took down some of the foot soldiers with a few trick arrows that the Green Arrow provided before leaving the base.
"We're supposed to be the good guys, those who protect the people who can't protect themselves. We need to draw the line somewhere, otherwise, how can we be different from our enemies?" Oliver had said before arming Roy with them.
Somehow it reminded him of Kal's stern lessons whenever they would train, Batman's endless mantra that he drilled into his family and allies, and Kara's own personal point of views when it comes to the heroics.
Now more than ever, he had to remind himself of that. Power was alluring, he knew just a little too well. He was charged with a mission, to subdue Grodd and beat him and do that he shall.
Cisco's gadget-goggles were working wonders. It seemed that everyone else had something similar to that but they were older units, some slightly damaged from the earlier rounds of fighting. Kon focused on dealing with and distracting Grodd so that he too would keep his focus on him. In some sense it was a one on one battle.
Wally kept zooming back and forth close to where he was, taking care of rogue gorilla soldiers that tried to whammy him from the side as a sneak attack, not that it would have worked. There weapons were the normal steel that swords and spears of this world were made of. A few arrows had already bounced of his chest, no sign of kryptonite anywhere.
He was the secret weapon for this front, he knew that. He was the unexpected. And even if he was called a 'weapon' he didn't flinch this time. He hated the comparison to an inanimate vague thing, because he will always fiercely defend, he was his own person. But the way Winn said it, the way his team regarded him, it was just like with the Titans back in Earth-38.
A unit. A family. And Kon, as a secret weapon, was just a crucial part of that family with the unique set of abilities that worked well with them. Someone with a piece to play, not a thing. Everyone had their own parts to play.
Deathstroke was leading the weird guy they called Wild Dog, Arsenal, and the Atom to form an outer perimeter from their corresponding vantage points. Through the coms, he was muttering directions on how they would go about attacks. They pretty much took care of making sure they don't break the imaginary set lines the soldiers were not allowed to cross.
Wally was providing the assist on the inside together with Steel and Agent Lane.
Kon was isolating Grodd somewhere near Arsenal's corner so he could keep watch in case he tried to break through.
"That's it, I've had enough of this." Kon muttered when Grodd said something with a growl. Kon wasn't really paying much attention to him at that moment, providing a quick assist with Agent Lane using his heat vision and saving her from a sneak attack.
Kon flew up high, avoiding an abandoned car that Grodd threw him. He had to admit, Grodd was a worthy opponent, matching Kon's blows pretty well. This despite not exactly taking this seriously. He's been faced with tougher challenges, and compared to Match, his clone, Grodd wasn't that much stronger. The true threat was fighting his psychic abilities and Kon struggled to fight against his opponent's attempts at keeping him grounded. Once Kon decided to let lose a bit more than he usually does, he was able to gain the upper-hand. His been toying with him since then, testing him, and it was clear he was getting under his skin, fur, pelt…? It was clear from the start his interest was with dealing with the Flash and not him and his appearance, a young man who was part Kryptonian, was not part of the plans. It was clear too that whatever had transpired between him and the Flash had led him into this state of great frustration.
And a part of Kon knew that if he doesn't do something he would become more unpredictable than logical.
Perhaps this was the effect of prolonged fighting. A war between chaos and justice.
Kon zoomed down, homing straight to Grodd. He had to ensure that he keeps his strength in check, still not quite sure how to keep it checked against stronger opponents, at least stronger compared to humans.
Both his fists land square on his chest knocking him far, creating a straight parting line among the enemy gorilla soldiers surrounding them. Kid Flash positioned himself right behind him, ready with a strike of his own. Once his attack landed, arsenal took him down with a specialized dart.
They figured the accumulated injuries that Kon would leave and the tranquilizer would keep him down long enough to send them back to where they came from.
Kon landed with a loud thud, shaking the ground beneath him just a little – really it was a slight tumble for him but it was apparently enough to knock a few of the gorillas down – and commanding everyone's attention. Wally quickly ran towards Lucy who also tumbled back a little, Steel managed to keep his ground and Kon figured that everyone just sort of agreed that it was amusing to see Deathstroke nearly losing his footing a little from his vantage point.
He smirked. Their battle was done.
Not so bad for his first mission in this other earth.
Kara was a little thankful she got the bulk of the forces with her as part of her team. She wanted to argue at first, truth be told, that she wouldn't need that much back up, that the rest of the teams would need more fire power, especially Barry. But a quick trip down memory lane reminded her how she lost round one against the Coluan who has a massive army that seemed to have just gotten bigger this time around.
Spartan, John Diggle, led the forces from A.R.G.U.S. that Lyla had recruited to assist them in downtown Star City. Jesse quick focused on providing a perimeter with the help of Caitlyn to minimize the area of where the fighting was taking place and protect then civilians. In the meantime, the new Canary and Green Arrow took down any of the reinforcements that Brainiac was sending form their base, the area from the bayside park where his ships had appeared. Supergirl took the fighting to the skies along with the Martian Manhunter, clearing out the enemy lines along the way as they charged Brainiac's ship. With the help of a device that Curtis a.k.a. Mr. Terrific made, Kara managed to weaken the ships defenses and tear a nice hole to its side.
She wasn't going to lie, it felt very reminiscent of the time she and Ollie charged the heart of the Stem during the Blight Invasion on their own earth.
But this time she was ready to fight smarter.
She was, after all, equal brain and brawn and not just one above the other.
Once inside J'onn focused on his own mission, look for the collected cities that Brainiac had accumulated. His mission was Kandor after all.
The battle itself felt more like a mash-up between Lex in his exosuit and against Kryptonite Man. The improvements in her suit did its job, minimizing the effects of the kryptonite that he used to his advantage. This allowed her to focus on the battle.
However, Kara had to admit, it would take a lot more to beat him. His words about Krypton and its destruction resonated deep within her, his quick observations ad rather accurate predictions of her movements lost her the upper hand, one that she never really had, quite a lot. It didn't help that he had control of the entire ship and Kara not only had to fight with the Coluan but a robot army that kept coming at her and cable wires that kept trying to keep her down and take her captive.
Yeah, the ship was alive.
If she was going to win, she needed to think differently, think outside the box.
Have a different approach.
Not just attack with everything she had while charging, or keeping the distance and relying on her other abilities no.
She had to fight smarter, do something that someone without powers would do.
Oliver had arrows, if he can't shoot them directly at his target he'd use his surroundings to his advantage along with his trick arrows.
Kate would use all the gadgets in her arsenal and perhaps use the dimly lit spaces of the ship to give her the upper hand for a sneak attack.
And Alex, oh Alex, she would rain hell against Brainiac with whatever she has on her. Turn the attacks she received as a vantage point to give a solid counter, probably use the robots someway, call a bluff and do something unpredictable.
Alex can be a lose canon when she has had it really.
And that's when Kara got an idea. As Brainiacs army rushed towards her, she didn't meet them with her fists, she used them to fight each other, dodging attacks that landed on her other attackers, deflected a few blows once in a while, and caught one of the cables trying to snatch her and electrocuted some of her opponents.
She shifted from offensive to defensive strategies and using that to her advantage, what with her powers and all. She combined stealth with her speed by attacking some enemies from afar while simultaneously directing the attacks on her with nearby sentinels. She was a blur in a tangled mess of metallic limbs and webs of cables that all seem to be connected to something. She used the chaos to her advantage to hide the obvious blue and red streak, tried her best to create an after image, something she actually learned from Barry once upon a time – it took a while to figure out how to get to a reasonable speed as Kara never closely monitored how fast she was going or the limits of her speed unlike Barry that she wasn't sure she could even do it back then; when she did, the two went straight to celebrate with ice cream, completely excited about it – and set traps along the way – like, say, super speeding to one side of the ship and leaving an explosive part she tore of one of the androids and going back to her original position to heat vision a few of the rest instead of tossing it, thus giving away her position.
She kept herself in constant motion, not stopping at all to disappear as best she could. She didn't know the enemy, she wasn't sure if he could follow him. The after images she created drew more and more of the robot soldiers and cables snatching at her closer together, and closer to Brainiac who proceeded to seat on a chair connected to the cable wires.
And Kara had another brilliant idea.
She patiently waited for the perfect moment to strike, setting traps towards Brainiac, distractions really.
She waited and waited until she was sure he believed that he had her in a corner.
And he finally did, he finally thought he was on the cusp of capturing her. The Kryptonian who lived on earth.
He stood up and rushed towards an after image. Distracted
And when the opportunity arrived and Kara grabbed two of the cable wires and rushed straight at him to electrocute him.
He fell to his knees, defeated. The army about to attack her all crashed down and the ship's power fluctuated.
The battle was won. Now Kara just needs to figure out if they could send him to the Phantom Zone because she knew he would be a dangerous foe to contend with when he bounces back on his feet. She had to be quick too, she wasn't sure how long he'll actually stay down.
"Hey Overwatch, I have a question." Kara said through the coms. She pretty much forgotten about it, tuning out the conversation between her teammates and the base during then battle.
"Yes Supergirl?" she heard Felicity then ask. "Finally realized we've been screaming at you for a few good minutes? Your vitals started fluctuating like crazy."
"Wait, you were monitoring my vitals?" Kara asked, surprised.
"Minor detail we forgot about some of the adjustments we made with your suit." Felicity then replied.
Which was probably Lena's idea really, and Kara had to admit that was smart, especially in case something happened.
She shrugged it off for now, no time to waste. "I have a favor to ask you. Can you look someone up for me?"
"Sure." Felicity then replied.
Kara took a deep breath. "Can you look up Clark Joseph Kent?"
"Sure, but what for?"
"I'm hoping he can help me out." was all that Kara gave as a reply before securing Brainiac and finding J'onn.
Things were intense, as one would expect in such situations. Lucky for Lena, she had a form of distraction in the form of Laura. While Lena wanted to constantly be updated on both how Kara and Kon were doing in their respective missions, she figured that she had done what she was to do and all worrying over and stressing about the ups and downs of the battle wouldn't do her any good.
Besides someone had to keep an eye on a very excitable Kryptonian toddler surrounded by a lot of new shiny things that ware most definitely not toys.
So much for distraction though. As soon as Kara left with the team, Lena scooped Laura up, settling down on a cushioned bench that was supposed to be their makeshift lounge corner and instantly Laura went from accidentally picking up on of Curtis' many inventions to a peacefully sleeping child who finally tapped out of energy, her head falling onto Lena's lap almost automatically as they sat down.
Lena ran her had through the soft blonde hair of her little Laura. She couldn't help but smile at how peaceful she looked in her sleep. So much like Kara when she forgets, even for the briefest of seconds, about the heavy weight of the world on her shoulders.
It was barely half twenty minutes, Lena having shifted her attention on how they could possibly improve their little hall of justice on Earth-1, when a yellow streak flashed by before her eyes, running past her and straight to the tech support corner of the hall. It was vibrating as it pulled into a stop, and Lena realized it was the shape of a man. His attention was directed at Cisco and Iris, Felicity and Curtis too. Mick Rory tried to use his heat gun despite his injuries but the yellow blur who Lena assumed to be the Reverse Flash quickly threw him to one side across the room and his gun just a few feet Lena set Laura aside as carefully as she could to reach it and help out in beating the distracted and seemingly desperate foe.
Many thoughts run through Lena's mind with what's happening – what on Earth-1 happened to Barry? How did the Reverse Flash escappe him? – all as the Reverse Flash seemed deadest in harming both Iris and Cisco.
Curtis tried to set off some time-temporal device that affected him a bit and Lena took her chance and dove for the heat gun – she's been learning a thing or two from Kate and Alex – and took aim, however, the effect of the device was short lived and the Reverse flash managed to dodge the attack on the last minute.
Wells of Earth came to their aid as he ran out of the Wave Rider armed and ready with a still injured Jefferson, the one half of Firestorm, and Professor Stein, armed with weapons from the future but they were all swiftly dealt with before the Reverse Flash finally turned his attention to Lena, speeding straight towards her.
Everything was happening a little too fast for Lena to even comprehend what's going on. People were struggling to get up on their feet and fight when all of a sudden there was a loud boom. One minute the Reverse Flash was gunning for her and in another she saw him flying to the other side of the hall, getting trapped on the walls. He tried to get himself up when a blur of a Kryptonian the size of a toddler finally stopped zooming about halfway between her and Reverse Flash.
He took another go for an attack and suddenly found himself frozen from Laura's freeze breath. Having himself literally frozen on his track, he started to vibrate, trying to melt of the ice when Laura heat visions the roof and traps him just as he was about to escape. Surprised by the sudden debris falling onto him, he changed directions and ran straight into Laura's tiny little fist, hitting it face first at such an incredible speed just as she threw the punch as well, completely knocking him out.
"I stop bad man from hurting Mommy!" she then huffed proudly.
And Lena couldn't help but chuckle at just how much like Kara she truly was.
The two always just manages to save the day.
A/N Pt 2: Now, as promised, the Easter eggs...
Kon/Conner's Superboy Costume made by Cisco: It's the original Superboy costume from the 'Reign of the Supermen' arc and it was his costume for a while. The plain black shirt and the black stealth suit he wears and briefly mentions are his more updated costumes. The current Superboy in DC Rebirth though is Jon Kent, Clark and Lois' son and he wears something like a superman jacket and Krypto's old cape… so yeah, there's that.
UPNEXT: Kara gets some blessing in disguise; Afterparty conclusions; the return to Earth-38; and Clark gives Kara some solid advice!
