Author's Note – I do not own any of the characters, Marvel and DC do.
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Chapter Six
Revival
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The darkness that was engulfing her seemed to ripple and strange noises leaked through.
"…one, Forge, the lighting rig is…"
The weakness that had sapped her ability to move was slowly fading, once again she could feel air flowing over her face, a soft material beneath her and covering her body.
"…bio-energy fields stabilising at last, cellular force-fields are starting to ini…"
The sounds seemed to carry meaning, but they were unfamiliar to her. A different language, perhaps? Or had she suffered from an injury to her head? It was possible, but there was no pain…
"…ainwaves indicating that she is waking…"
She tried to open her eyes, only for light to lance painfully between her eyelids. Wincing, she tried to lift her arm to shield her vision, but the lingering weakness defeated her intent.
"…moved! I think she's…"
She managed to open her eyes slightly and the moving shapes around her came into view. Blinking to try and sharpen her vision, she tried to speak, but only managed to produce a croak.
##Here, drink this.## a voice said and she felt a liquid dribbling slowly into her mouth. Letting the first few sips simply sink into her mouth, rehydrating it, she gratefully swallowed the rest. The straw was removed and she tried to speak again.
##How… how long? How many…?##
A long silence followed her question, then a hand placed itself on her shoulder.
##It has been over a dozen Orbits since you entered stasis, Kara Zor-El. You are the first to be revived.##
Kara sagged in relief as the tension left her. There were others! She was not the last!
##Who are you?##
##I am Kal-El, your cousin.## the voice replied gently. ##I was sent to this world as a baby and grew up here before returning to rescue you and the others. Get some sleep, we will talk when you are feeling better.##
Kara let the darkness engulf her once more, smiling as she did so.
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"She's stabilising." Forge said, lifting his transformed hand from the interface and letting it resume its normal human appearance. "Those sunlamps are doing good, but I think we should cut back on them for now. We don't want her to wake with her powers at max and with no idea of how to control them."
"Agreed." Rogue said as she finished adjusting the sheets covering Kara. "Ah've seen what happans when ya go all out, if she pahnacks…"
Clark nodded. "Agreed. Do it, Forge."
"She'll still wake up strong." Forge noted. "I think you should stay here, just in case."
Clark nodded and waved his hand. In response to his signal, a chair drifted over and settled to the ground. Rogue just grinned.
"That nevah stops amahzing mah."
Clark nodded as her even as he spoke. "Thank you, Fortress."
"You are welcome."
Forge grinned. "One day, we'll hopefully be able to create pseudo-sentience like that. May take a while, though, we still need to get a grip on sub-quantum manipulation."
Rogue stared at him blankly, then shrugged and walked out. As she did so, Clark heard her mutter "Geeks" under her breath.
Forge gave him a confused look as he tried not to laugh.
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"Whoah, babe alert!" Samual said almost reverently, screeching to a halt and staring at where Clark and Rogue had emerged, alongside a jumpsuit-clad blue-eyed blond girl that he didn't recognise. The girl was looking round, wide-eyed, trying to take everything in.
"Deeeyaaaaamn, she's sexy." Roberto half-whispered. "Who do you think she is?"
"That's a nice outfit, I wonder if I can talk her out of it?" Ray snickered.
"I'd cut down a bit on the comments." Spyke advised as he walked up to stand beside the group of admiring teens. "Clark has super-hearing, remember? He can hear every word you've said. Heck, he can hear your heartbeats from here."
Ray paled. "Erm, Clark, I didn't mean it! It was a joke! Honest!"
Clark turned his head slightly and the grass at Ray's feet ignited, only to be put out by Bobby Drake.
"I think that was a warning to think before speaking." Spyke noted, seeing Clark nod his head in confirmation. "You may want to leave, Clark'll introduce her to us when he thinks she's ready for it."
Before they could take more than a few paces, a ferocious barking sounded and Jamie came running from the undergrowth, Rahne chasing him in her wolf form.
"I SAID I WAS SORRY! Oof!"
The blond girl reflexively caught Jamie as he cannoned into her, then stared in confusion as four Jamie's landed on the ground while the fifth tensed as he realised where his head was. Almost instantly, the other four duplicates started apologising. Rahne screeched to a halt as Clark stared at her, one eyebrow raised, then reverted to human form, earning a shocked look from the blond.
"Mmmmffmmm? Mmfhhmff! Mrrmrhhmfffrhmmrrr?"
##Kara, you can let him go now.##
Kara blinked, then suddenly realised that she was still holding Jamie with his face buried between her breasts. With a gasp, she released the dazed youth. Two of his duplicates supported him as the other two continued their apologies, only to stop when Clark raised his hand.
"Rahne, what did Jamie do?"
Rahne glared at the five boys, who all swallowed and quickly hid behind Kara and Rogue, much to the two girls amusement.
"I… kind of tripped over and… well, I…" one of the clones said, ducking back behind Kara as Rahne growled at him. "I said I was sorry! It was an accident! Honest!"
"I think you have terrified him enough, Rahne." Clark said with a wry smile. "I can tell that he's telling the truth, it was an accident and he has apologised."
"And Kara, I'm sorry for doing it to you too." Jamie added, causing Clark's eyebrows to shoot up and Rogue to start giggling.
##What did he say?##
##He said that he was sorry for ending up with his head in your chest.## Rogue explained. ##He was running because he had accidentally done the same thing to Rahne.##
##I understand and forgive him.## Kara said, giving two of the clones a reassuring smile. ##Hopefully he'll be more careful next time.##
##I think he will be.##
"Kara forgives you but asks that you watch where you're going next time." Clark explained to the bemused clones, all of whom promptly started to thank her. "Um, can you get back to just one of you?"
"Sure!" one of the clones responded as the other four faded away, causing Kara to look even more amazed. "Thanks for saving me."
Ray finally managed to get his wits sorted.
"Daaaaamn, that is one lucky boy getting to put his head in her… aaargh! Hot hothothotHOT!"
Sighing, Bobby froze the smouldering grass again. "Ray, think before you speak."
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Kara accepted the proffered foodstuff and and looked at it curiously, then at the woman who her cousin had introduced as his adoptive mother. Seeing the amusement on Clark's face, she took a small nibble, then her eyes widened and she took a larger bite.
##I think that she likes them.## Rogue smirked, accepting a cookie of her own. "Thanks, mum."
Martha smiled broadly as she handed Clark a glass of milk, then turned to deal with a large saucepan bubbling on the stove.
"Any time, dears. Now, you run along and have fun, I've got some cooking to do."
"Yes mum." Clark and Rogue chorused before looking at each other. Clark grinned as Rogue giggled and they led Kara out of the kitchen.
##Those cookies were really tasty.## Kara said with a smile. ##Aunt Martha is very good at making good food.##
##Wait until you have one of Martha's meals.## Rogue said, licking her lips. ##Everyone here would put their lives on the line to protect mum and her cooking.##
##I can believe it.## Kara smiled. ##So, now that you've introduced everyone, what's next on the list?##
##Powers.## Clark said. ##By now, you should have absorbed enough solar energy that your powers are starting to activate. Let's go outside and I can help you learn your new abilities.##
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"Holy… What did you do, Cannonball?!"
"Hey, it wasn't me!"
The duo stared at the new clearing with crushed trees, scorched stumps and shattered rocks littering the ground.
"Cannonball, Sunspot." A new voice said and the two boys half-turned to see Jean approaching them. "I felt your confusion. What is… ahhhhh."
The boys exchanged confused looks.
"Ahhh?"
"I helped Rogue to bring a picnic out here yesterday evening." Jean shrugged. "Clark was teaching Kara how to control her powers. Poor girl was having real problems with her heat vision, although she seemed to have almost-perfect control over her super-strength."
The boys stares intensified, then Cannonball spoke.
"She has all of Clark's powers?"
"Super-strength, super-speed, cryo-breath, heat-vision, super-hearing, telescopic-vision, microscopic-vision, x-ray vision, enhanced tactile capabilities, breath-holding of over twenty minutes, flight, invincibility, eidetic and photographic memory… I think that's almost the whole list."
"How?" Sunspot asked in shock.
"Same way you power your skills." Jean said with a smile. "Solar absorbtion. Except that as a Kryptonian, Clark and Kara can absorb a great deal more energy."
Cannonball looked across the still-smoking ground and let out a low whistle.
"Deyaaammmn. Kara has to be the strongest girl here."
"Probably." Jean sighed. "I'm helping her to learn english, my powers allow me to sense if she understands something or not. For some reason, the Professor can't read their emotions, but I can. Of course, that may be the empathic portion of my powers, he's still a far stronger telepath than I could ever hope to be."
Sunspot nodded slowly, then his brow wrinkled in thought. "How much solar energy can Kryptonians absorb? Compared to me, I mean? A full charge gives me almost an hour, but it takes more than three times that long to reach full charge, so…?"
Jean closed her eyes as she sorted through her memories, sifting through different conversations with the Kents and certain medical tests she had overseen.
"If I remember correctly, Kryptonians absorb solar radiation, but it acts as a catalyst for them. Their abilities are powered by… I don't know the actual term for it. Dimensional energy, maybe? But they need solar energy to tap into it. But a mere five minutes sun can give them over an hour of full power, while they can go without recharging for over a week before starting to weaken."
"Whoah." Sunspot said, absently stroking one of the metal plaques of his belt. "That's… damn, that's amazing. No wonder they don't need solar capacitors."
Jean looked at him, then her gaze dropped to his belt and her eyes lit with recognition.
"And how much power do you have with the capacitors?"
"Out of uniform, I'm good for maybe an hour and a half, with the belt, it's up to eight." Sunspot grinned. "In uniform, a full day plus and the capacitors are easy to replace, plus my suit acts to enhance the solar energy I can absorb. Heck, it actually changes ambient electromagnetic energy into solar energy for me. Coolest tech ever!"
"I haven't had any upgrades." Cannonball mock-moaned and Sunspot shook his head.
"They're still working out how your shield works, doofus." He shot back. "Besides, aren't you learning how to focus that skill of yours? Get it to the point where you can limit its effect?"
"But it's hard." Cannonball pouted and Jean cocked her head.
"Focus? Limit? What are you talking about?"
"Weee-eeelll…" Cannonball said slowly, "It's something that Clark suggested after he had me demonstrate my power…"
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##This is amazing!## Kara yelled as she soared upwards, turning to get a better view of the skies around her, the majestic clouds and the brief glimpses of the ground far below. ##When you told me that you could fly on this world, I didn't believe you, but now…##
##I know## Clark smiled as he flew almost parallel to her, his years of experience showing in the almost effortless smoothness of his flight. ##I sometimes come up here at night to look at the stars. I used to wonder if there were any more Kryptonians out there, now I know there are at least eight more, even if they are still asleep.##
Kara nodded, then slowed to a halt, looking round.
##Thank you for bringing me up here. This is far more fun than those… english lessons##
##You still need to learn it.## Clark said mildly. ##You, me and my mother and sister are currently the only Kryptonian speakers active on Earth.##
##I know.## Kara sighed. ##It's just… it's hard. English is so… insane.##
Clark managed not to laugh at her honest exasperation. After a moment, he managed regain enough control to be able to speak without sounding like he was making fun of her.
##That's because english was the language of rulers and traders who dealt with hundreds of other cultures and dozens of languages. It absorbed many words from other ways of speaking, which is why it makes so little sense when you are learning it, but it is the most widely spoken language on the planet.##
Kara blinked several times as she thought the explanation through, then she nodded slowly.
##I see. Then I will do my best to learn it. By the way, one of the students said something I don't understand. What does Bow-chika woof-woof mean?##
Clark almost choked.
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The sound of almost every male in the Danger Room inhaling sharply and then remaining totally motionless seemed deafening as Kara entered, clad in her new uniform. Jamie looked round in confusion.
"Why is everyone frozen? Is this another of Kara's powers?"
"…deeeyaaaammmmmnnnn…" Roberto whispered as he stared at Kara, his eyes travelling up from her knee-length red boots to her red miniskirt, held in place by a yellow belt, then up further to the blue long-sleeved top which exposed her honed midriff and the red cape which barely reached down to mid-thigh.
##What do you… oh. What do you… you think?" Kara asked, turning round so that the assembled students could see her outfit. "It is… Kal?"
"It's a variation of the Kryptonian defence force uniform for tropical environments." Clark explained. "Kara's hometown was quite cold compared to here, so she thought it was appropriate given the temperature difference."
"That is so not fair." Kitty sighed. "How can we compete with her?"
Kara looked at her and Rogue took the opportunity to whisper in her ear. Kara's face lit up in understanding and she smiled at Kitty.
"Thank you."
"Okay, everyone!" Clark said with a grin. "Since she's been here for a full week, Kara is going to watch as you all run through a few teamwork exercises and even participate once she understands what's going on. After that, mom's promised one of her super dinners."
The resulting cheer almost caused Kara to clap her hands over her ears.
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"That was brutal." Magma sighed as she stepped under the shower. "Urgh, if being an X-man means having to do that every day, I'll stick to just being a New Mutant."
"I hear you."Boom-Boom sighed. "I think I prefer having the time to gossip rather than train all the time."
"Speaking of which, Rogue, I hear that you're now sharing a room?" Rahne asked and Rogue nodded as she started to rinse the lather out of her hair. By unspoken common consent, she had taken the furthest shower to avoid accidentally touching anyone, and Kara was lathering up in the shower beside her.
"Yes, for severahl reasons."
"Let's see." Jubilee interrupted. "You're Super-hunk's sister and Kara's his cousin, so that's the family angle."
"You speak Kryptonian, so you can help Kara learn english." Kitty added.
"Your power doesn't work on Kryptonians, so it's safe for you to share with her." Contributed Jean.
Rogue nodded. "Y'all got it raight."
"I am… happy with what is the word for cousin?##
"Cousin." Rogue supplied.
"With cousin Anna sharing room." Kara finished. "I am… learning? Learning much."
"Good to hear." Rahne said, switching off her shower and grabbing a towel. "So, what else is up?"
Kara stared at the ceiling in confusion and Rogue facepalmed.
##It's an expression. It means is there anything that she should know about.##
Kara nodded in belated understanding.
