Chapter 9: Departure
Deity tilted her head as she stared up at the large coin that was framed on the wall of the Batcave. She still didn't believe the story behind it. That apparently Two-Face had tried to crush Batman with the giant coin. The man had some issues for sure but there was no way Deity could believe he was that stupid.
"And he keeps it framed because?" Deity asked looking over to Barbara who was leaning back against the railing with her arms folded, smiling at the confused teenage girl.
"I honestly have no idea," Barbara admitted as she looked up at the coin. "Maybe it reminds him of a simpler time."
"Simpler?" Deity questioned with another frown.
"Simpler for him anyway," Barbara chuckled as Deity turned back around, screwing her face up at the coin.
"You got any weirder than this?" Deity asked jokingly not expecting Barbara to answer.
"I think we've got a large jack in the box somewhere around here?" Barbara said as she pushed of the railing to look around the cave.
"A what?" Deity exclaimed as she swung back around to Barbara. The caped crusader was just about to point it out when she heard Alfred call from above. He'd already provided them with their snacks and he wouldn't have called them for anything trivial since he knew Barbara wanted to make sure Deity was okay. So if he was calling it had to be important.
"Miss Gordon, Miss Danvers!" Alfred called out. Even when he raised his voice he still managed to maintain his polite tone.
"I'm getting flash backs to school," Deity muttered as the two made their way along the walkway, Barbara laughed as they stepped onto the platform that then brought them up to the main floor of the cave. From their they walked over to the large computer that had been set up with three monitors, a wide keyboard with a verity of other buttons and one chair which Alfred was stood by.
"What is it, Alfred?" Barbara asked as they approached.
"A break in, I'm afraid," Alfred said as he motioned to one of the three screens. Barbara slipped into the seat and Deity took up residence next to Alfred, watching as Barbara's fingers flew across the keyboard. A second later the map of Gotham City zoomed in on one building with a big blue 'W' on the front.
"Wayne Industries?" Barbara muttered; confused as to why anyone would be breaking into her boss's building. As far as she was aware there was no reason too. They weren't working on anything that exciting at the moment and if anyone was coming in looking for money, the building had very little to offer. They did occasionally get some newbie criminals breaking in, thinking it would give them some kind of reputation for screwing over Bruce Wayne but hardly anyone cared. And if there was anything of importance it would be in the lower levels and near impossible to access. Bruce had made sure of that with the aid of Mr. Fox.
"Looks like someone's after some of Bruce's spare cash," Deity commented as she watched the screen while Barbara frowned at it. "Should we go and check it out?" Deity asked. Barbara spun around in her chair, glancing up at the teenager.
"You sure you're good? I can handle this myself," Barbara said with a concerned look. She was grateful for the hand with Killer Croc but from what she'd picked up just from observing Deity she wasn't in the most stable of mental conditions. Whatever she'd been through, it had left its marks, whether she knew it or not.
"No, I'm good," Deity said causally, not picking up the concern or more likely ignoring it.
"Alright then," Barbara said as she stood up, pulling on her cowl. "Keep in touch, Alfred," Barbara said as she headed for the platform with Deity.
"Of course, Miss Gordon," Alfred replied as the platform descended down to the Batmobile.
"Need a ride?" Barbara asked with a smirk as the top to the Batmobile opened up.
"No thanks, I prefer flying," Deity answered as she floated up into the air.
"Suit yourself," Barbara said as she climbed into the car. Once the top was closed, she pressed another button and the platform the Batmoible was parked on began to rotate until the front of the car was facing the exit. Barbara flicked the switch which opened up the cave wall and then floored it. The Batmobile raced forwards, jumping through the waterfall and landing on the dirt road before making its way towards the city with a yellow trail following it from above.
As she drove, Barbara would look up every now and then to make sure Deity was still with her. She was going to be keeping an eye on her for now. It's what her friend would want, especially since she couldn't be here herself. Hopefully all they'd have to deal with would be some newbie criminals that wouldn't take long. Barbara wasn't entirely sure she wanted to get into a full on fight, not until she had more time to assess Deity's physical and mental health.
Skidding around a corner, Barbara brought the car to an immediate stop outside the main doorways to Wayne Industries. Several glass doors lined the wall that lead into the reception. Barbara spotted the reception desks, empty, which was odd for this time of night. Normally that was where the security guards sat to wait out their shifts.
Opening up the top, Barbara climbed out as Deity touched down next to her. Both saw the shattered glass door and shared a look. The guards would have heard that, so where were they? Barbara wondered, already having a pretty good idea about the answer.
"Stay quiet and stay close," Barbara ordered as she made her way towards the shattered door. Deity nodded before following. The glass crunched beneath their feet as they entered the dark building, only lit up by the moonlight from outside. It was like being in the mall after it closed for the night, only way cleaner. So much so, that the tiled floors actually shone in the moonlight. It was almost serene in a way, or perhaps spooky depending on your perspective.
"Do you hear anything?" Barbara asked as they approached one of the reception desks. Deity shook her head, not picking up anything with her heightened hearing. Barbara didn't like that; her instincts were telling her they weren't alone. She continued on over to the circular reception desk, looking over to find two guards lying on the floor, out of sight and unconscious if not dead.
"There alive," Deity said from beside Barbara, having heard their slow beating hearts. She quickly ran around the other desk at super speed, checking all of them before returning to Barbara's side. "There's a couple more hidden around, maybe ten or so," Deity guessed.
"That could be the entire patrol for the first few floors," Barbara grimaced. She looked on to the lifeless escalators in the centre of the room that lead up to the next floor. Looking up she could see offices that looked down on them, no sign of life as the escalators vanished up towards the next floor. It was an impressive structure, Barbara had always thought, but it would have been nice to have something better to look at the escalators or the bottom floor from your office window. This was the original building so there was only so much they could do to it. The other offices Bruce had opened up around the country looked much nicer in design than the Gotham branch.
"I suppose it's too much to hope you've developed x-ray vision," Barbara said looking over to Deity who gave her a pointed look in return. "I thought so," she sighed as she looked back up to the offices above. "This could take awhile."
"How about we help you then?" Barbara looked down to from the offices above to find two figures stood at the base of the escalators. One was in a trench coat, all dark clothing with a smirk on his face. The other was thinner with a straight fringe that almost covered his left eye. Every now and then he'd flick his head to the side, brushing the hair from his eye. He was taller than the one in the trench coat but anyone could see it was all in his legs. The rest of him wasn't impressive, particularly muscle wise, the guy could really do eating a sandwich or two.
"Miss me, Deity?" the one in the coat asked. Barbara looked to Deity, eyes widening when she saw the rage that had consumed her entire body. Her stance had turned into a primal one, ready to attack at the slightest thing, eyes wide and trembling with anger as she bared her clenched teeth and curled in her fingers into furious fists.
This could be a problem.
"I heard what you did to poor old Felix. Mind you, he had it coming, didn't he?" Kem said as he took a step forward from his partner.
"So do you," snarled Deity, her fists now surrounded by a faint yellow glow.
"Come on now, Deity. We both know you didn't exactly give us much of a choice," Kem said defensively, but maintaining his smug grin.
"You traitorous Bastard!" Deity shouted as she charged forwards.
"Deity, don't!" Barbara called after her but by the time the words had left her mouth Deity was already across the room, her fist shining brightly as she got ready to attack. Only before she could get close enough she hit an invisible wall and dropped uncomfortably onto the ground. A blue shimmer passed through the air where Deity had been stopped before vanishing as Kem started to chuckle.
"Now see, from my point of view, you're the traitor," Kem pointed out, eyes on Deity and more importantly nowhere near Barbara. She reached back into her belt and brought out a batarang, unfolding it, she threw it through the air only to have Kem catch it with his hand.
"Ah! I nearly forgot about your friend there. Sorry about that. Which one were you again?" Kem asked his attention now on Barbara as Deity glared at him from the ground.
"Batgirl," Barbara answered calmly.
"Right, yes. We were on the same side when we fought Astra," Kem said, pointing to Barbara with the hand holding the batarang. "Well, Batgirl. You should know it's going to take a lot more than some silly boomerang to take care of me."
"How about an exploding one?" Barbara asked smugly. She saw Kem's eyes widened slightly but he had no time to act. The batarang exploded in his hand as he stumbled back landing on his back with a groan. Before the smoke of the explosion could even clear, Deity was on top of Kem, pinning him down as she got ready to give him the same treatment she'd given Felix. However Kem was determined to survive and as Deity's fist came down towards him he brought up a shield that Deity's hand bounced right off of.
"Damn it!" Deity cried angrily as she glared down at Kem who smirked back.
"Sorry to disappoint," Kem said as he shoved Deity aside and quickly got back up to his feet along with Deity. "Wes, keep the other one here. Careful, she's smart," Kem called out to his partner. He didn't say anything, just nod to confirm he understood his orders. Next thing Kem took off up the escalator leaving a blue trail behind.
"Deity, no, don't take the-" Barbara tried to say but before she could finish Deity was already chasing after him. "...bait," Barbara finished as she shook her head. Now she finally understood why Bruce hated working with teenagers, so unreliable.
She stepped forward to go after her friendly on to get punched across the face and sent rolling across the tiled floor. She managed to gain control of herself and came to a stop on one knee. She looked up, running her hand across the side of her face as she did. There wasn't anything damaged, hurt like hell, but her cowl had protected her. Glaring at the second Hybrid, Wes, Barbara stood back up.
"Don't remember you," Barbara pointed out as she slowly reached behind her back with one hand.
"I'm new," Wes answered simply.
"So what do you know about Deity?" Barbara asked with a concerned frown. Wes didn't answer. Either he wasn't much of a talk or he was smart enough to know not to answer her questions. Instead he threw his fist towards the air in front of him only to then have his arm stretch across the space between him and Barbara. Watching as his fist sailed through the air, Barbara only just managed to avoid the punch and ducked as it curved around, trying to grab her.
From her belt she grabbed her explosive gel. When Wes' arm retracted, he threw out his other arm, stretching like the last one had. This time Barbara ducked beneath the fist and grabbed onto the arm. Quickly she sprayed on the gel and then let go before rolling aside to avoid his other arm that had come back. She came to a stop, knelt down again with the trigger to the gel in her hand. Both Wes' arms retracted again and then she activated the gel.
The inside of Wes' arm exploded and flipped him over before he landed face first on the ground. His arm was fine, one of the benefits of being invulnerable, but the force of the explosion still had enough kick to it to make him feel the pain.
Barbara grinned to herself before dashing forwards, reaching for another of her gadgets as Wes climbed back up to his feet.
Following the blue trial of light a head of her, Deity lost all sense of where she was or what she was doing. All that mattered was catching Kem and making him pay for what he'd done. She caught up to him multiple times but every times she tried to grab him he'd use a force field to push her back.
She even tried firing of some blasts of her energy vision but only succeed in damaging the building. It wasn't like Bruce Wayne couldn't afford to fix it anyway.
With the anger starting to overtake her, she began smashing through walls in an attempt to get ahead of Kem. But no matter what she tried he was always ahead of her and always got away. His constant grinning and laughing wasn't making Deity any calmer either. She couldn't understand how he found this so funny. He'd hurt her so much and he just laughed at her.
They had been friends. He'd shown her such beautiful things out in the universe and she'd taught him everything she'd known about Earth that he didn't already know. They laughed, at each other's stories and awed over ones they'd shared. How could they have gone from that to this? And how could he act like it was nothing, like their friendship meant nothing to him. It was just something he could laugh off. A joke!
It made Deity's blood boil.
Finally with a scream of effort, she unleashed her energy vision through a wall. It blaster through like a cannon ball destroying everything it came into contact with. After the forth wall it caught Kem. He'd been too busy laughing to hear the two golden beams of light coming and was hit right in the chest. He flew through several walls before smashing through a window and falling back down into the reception. He hit the side of an escalator, denting it before then collapsing onto his front.
He groaned a little as he sat up, still grinning as he watched Deity float in the air about him.
"Definitely stronger than when I last saw you," Kem said as he stood up, brushing the rubble off his coat. "I suppose you'd have to be to have survived War World. I guess I shouldn't be surprised. You're just like that Supergirl," Kem said with a hurting grin, knowing he'd hit a nerve. Deity tensed up as her eyes flashed yellow, her energy vision charging up.
"How is she by the way? Recovered from the tummy ache?" Kem continued to push.
"Don't talk about her!" Deity screamed as she unleashed her energy vision. Kem quickly raised his hand in response, blocking the attack with a shield. But not only that, he managed to reflect the attack. Curving his shield in such a way that the two beams of light bounced off it twice so that they flew back towards Deity. She didn't even know it was happening until she was hit by her own attack and sent stumbling backwards before collapsing on her back, groaning in pain.
"You're not the only one who's gotten stronger," Kem said, though Deity couldn't see him. "Wes! We're done!" Kem called and as Deity sat up she saw the trail of blue fade from the air. She looked around but both Hybrids were gone and Barbara was running over to her side.
"Deity," Barbara said as she knelt down next to the teenager who clenched her fist angrily. She should have gotten Kem, she had him. She should have beaten him, should have made him pay. But he'd escaped and they had recruited more Hybrids since abounding her. She'd never seen Wes before in her life, at least not with her current memories.
Anger flashed through her and she slammed her fist into the tiled floor making Barbara jump slightly. She was going to find out what they were up to and she was going to stop it. They'd dropped her into hell and she'd fought her way out. She was going to make them regret ever leaving her on War World.
Waiting while Alex finished her tests was hard. Kara was struggling to keep her mind of her daughter, particularly when her sister kept trying to bring it up. She just wished Alex would hurry up already. She wouldn't have been completely surprised if Alex was slowing down the tests just to keep Kara here while she continued to push.
Thankfully she made it through the interrogating medical examine. She had thought she was going to break at one point but somehow managed to keep it together. She just needed to take it one day at a time, starting with today. And today's job, find Rudy and stop him before he hurt anyone else. As distractions went it wasn't half bad, and after their first encounter Kara was ready to use him as a punching bag. She had a lot of steam to let off.
"Supergirl, good to see you back on your feet," J'onn said as Kara and Alex walked into the hub of the D.E.O. where the Martian and Lucy where waiting for them.
"How are you feeling?" Lucy asked, placing her hand on Kara's shoulder. She was getting sick of that. The tone everyone kept using around her when asking how she was. They all knew so why ask, all it meant was that she had to pretend even harder so that she could connive them she really was fine.
"I'm good. Just ready to repay this guy," Kara said nodding to the over head screen which showed a file of Rudy.
"What's happening to him?" Alex asked. Lucy removed her hand from Kara's shoulder and then flicked the tablet in her hand before the file of Rudy changed to an insectoid like alien with small files all around it.
"We believe he's been infected by this," J'onn said as he pointed up to the screen.
"What is it?" Kara asked, grimacing at the sight of the thing. It wasn't exactly pretty to look at.
"It's a parasite," Lucy answered.
"Most likely from the Angon system. We believe it ended up here during the ice age and has been stuck here ever since," J'onn explained as he turned away from the over head monitors and back to the group.
"Until Rudy and his group of scientists found it," Alex continued.
"And now he's been infected," Lucy finished as she set down her tablet on a nearby desk.
"But shouldn't it be killing him?" Kara asked with a frown, remembering that parasites feed of their hosts, sometimes to the point of death.
"This one seems to be using him to feed of other instead. It must need him in order to feed without hurting itself," J'onn said with his hands on his hips.
"Maybe without a body it wouldn't be able to hold all it can eat," Lucy suggested.
"But it's not just about food. When Rudy touched me he didn't just feed of my energy, he got stronger," Kara explained.
"So maybe this parasite can gain powers from those it feeds off. Almost like how you get yours from exposure to yellow sun," Alex pointed out.
"Except he's taking them from you," Lucy added.
"But I'm not hurting the sun when it give me my powers," Kara said grumpily as she kicked the floor.
"So now he'll be as strong as you," J'onn said nodding to Kara. "If that's the case then I'll be coming with you next time you go up against him."
"It's fine, me and Deity..." Kara began to say before she dropped her head. She'd been so busy trying to distract herself she'd actually managed to forget her daughter had left her. Now she felt like an idiot in front of her friends. She was just embarrassing herself.
"Kara," Alex said putting her hand on her sister's shoulder. It didn't stay there long though because Kara slipped away from it, head still lowered as she made her way towards the balcony.
"Just...call me when you need me," Kara muttered as she walked away only to then shot up into the sky, wishing she could take back the embarrassing moment.
"Is she going to be alright?" Lucy asked Alex carefully.
"I'm not sure," Alex said quietly as she stared at the balcony.
Up in the air, Kara did her best to keep back the hot tears. The air rushing into her face helped. It made the loose tears that slipped out feel like droplets of rain instead of her pathetic tears. She just wanted to see her daughter. She didn't think that was a hard request to the gods. Apparently it was though.
She was missing a huge part of herself and nothing was filling it. She could only distract herself for so long before she slipped up like she had back at the D.E.O. And she couldn't stand making a fool of herself until this pain went away. She wanted to let it out, but she was Supergirl, Kara Danvers. Always happy, ready for anything, never wavering... Perfect.
She hated that, being a beacon in both parts of her life. She felt like could never let anyone down no matter who she was. As Supergirl she had her city and the world to protect and as Kara Danvers she had a friends and family to care for. She had a daughter to care for...or she did.
Grabbing her scalp, finger digging in, Kara held in a scream she just couldn't' let out. She'd been thinking it over for hours and still nothing made sense. Her daughter would never just leave without a reason but for the life of her she couldn't figure it out. It was killing her. She had to know what was wrong with her daughter. She had to be able to fix it; she was both her mother and Supergirl she had to able to fix it. Another wise what was the point of her.
For the next few minutes Kara floated in the air above her city, trying to find the courage and strength to scream. In the end she just stood there, in the air. Tightly holding her jaw shut as she screamed internally, but it wasn't the same as doing it out loud. She had to let it out at some point. Otherwise she'd explode.
Deity had hoped the splash of water from the waterfall would help calm her down. It didn't.
Behind she could hear the Batmobile crashing through the waterfall before it landed below her and skidded to a stop. She couldn't unclench her fists. She'd been trying to since they left Wayne Industries but they remained tightly clenched just like her jaw. Her whole being was shaking with rage and anger over what had happened. She deserved retribution for what they had done to her she deserved so much more after what she'd been through.
The sound of the moving platform filled her ears, just like the one back on War World. Her vision went black and she screamed ragefully, her voice echoing around the cave. Bats screeched as they swarmed around her, frightened by the new noise.
Then when Deity felt her lungs about to burst she unleashed her energy vision sending shards of rock flying as she drew a line through the cave wall. She was so angry, so hurt and in so much pain. But no matter how much she screamed or how much she damaged what was around her, it didn't make her feel any better.
When her energy vision stopped she shot over to the huge coin, ripping it from the wall before throwing it across the cave were it became imbedded in the wall. Only half the coin now exposed. She blasted the spot where the coin had been with her energy vision before shooting up through the overhanging rock and breaking through to the next floor.
She would keep going. Breaking everything in sight until either the pain stopped or she just dropped dead.
Deity swung her arms across a table full of expensive looking equipment sending it all into the wall. One by one the items smashed, landing in a heap on the floor. She could feel the hot tears stinging her face, her pain flaring up again. She lashed out with her fist, catching a nearby target that was set up on the wall, her fist going right through it. When she pulled it out, she'd taken nearly half the wall with her.
From there she smashed through the roof again, landing by the main computer. By this point she was full on crying; tears streaming down her face, nose running, whimpering uncontrollably. All she wanted to do was make the pain stop. She turned her sights on the computer and tried to fire her energy vision but nothing came out. She screamed in frustration and dropped to her knees. Nothing was working for her.
Another painful scream echoed around the cave before Deity lifted her fist and punched the ground. Only it didn't smash as it should have. Instead she felt a sharp pain shoot through her arm and another cry emerged from her lips. Quickly her other hand wrapped itself around her now injured hand. Blood running from her knuckles as the pain continued to pass through her hand in waves.
Through the blur of tears in her eyes, Deity spotted the yellow boots of Barbara as she approached her. Slowly she lifted her head and spotted the familiar green glow coming from her hand. Kryptonite.
Deity might have shouted at her if she'd had the strength, but she just didn't have it in her to lash out at her only friend in the room. She let her head drop shamefully, still cradling her fist.
Wincing when she felt soft hands touch her injured one, Deity refused to look up as Barbara took her injured hand from her, looking it over. She said something but Deity couldn't make it out over the sound of her own crying. She hated herself in that moment, for acting like a child. But wasn't that was she was. The Hybrid child of Kara Zor-El... Or was she just another survivor of a dead world and a failed experiment.
"I'm-I'm-I'm-I'm so-so-so-sorry," Deity eventually managed to get out through her whimpering voice.
"It's okay," Barbara said as she gently stroked Deity's soar hand. Blood was still dribbling out and she was dirtying up Barbara's gauntlet free hands but she didn't seem to mind. "It's okay, Deity. You're safe here. I promise," Barbara continued soothingly until finally Deity let herself fall onto Barbara, holding her tightly because she couldn't stand to lose her right now.
"It's okay. I'm not going anywhere," Barbara said as she ran her hand up and down Deity's back. As to what happened next Deity wasn't too sure. It was all a bit of a blur, from Alfred helping Barbara to carry her to the lift from Barbara pulling the sheets over her body as she lay in the soft bed. She'd been given something to help her sleep. What it was she had no idea, but Barbara reassured her she'd be fine. She trusted Barbara. And thankfully she was already a sleep before she could think about what happened the last time she trusted someone.
While flying around the city, Kara got a call from the D.E.O. She had been doing mundane patrols, keeping herself busy and her mind as occupied as she could. She tapped on her ear piece and her sister's voice filled her ear.
"We've got Rudy's next target," Alex said from the other end of the line.
"Tell me where to go," Kara said, ready to fight Rudy and let off some built up steam.
"J'onn will meet you at the National City University," Alex said as Kara adjusted her course accordingly across the night sky. "Rudy's going after a man named Rand O'Reilly, he's on the board of National City University."
"-And also a lobbyist for climate-change deniers," Winn cut in as he joined in on the conversation.
"Winn?!" Alex exclaimed at the sound of his voice. "What are you doing on this line?"
"Helping," Winn said innocently. "I heard about National City's latest 'Parasite' and thought I'd lend a hand with some of the research."
"And how did you find out about this?" Alex asked authoritatively as Kara smiled to herself, at the sound of her sister and best-friend's bickering.
"Uh...well..." Winn said slowly, trying to think up an excuse.
"You hacked into our network didn't you?" Alex said accusingly.
"What? No! Of course not... But for the record it wasn't all that hard," Winn admitted.
"Winn! You're breaking the law," Alex shouted down the line making Kara wince.
"Well, technically, since the D.E.O. don't exist I couldn't have broken into their network could I?" Winn said confidently as he leaned back in his seat.
"You think that little technicality will stop J'onn from throwing you behind bars?" Kara knew her sister was joking, but only after years of living with her. To anyone else it sounded like she was dead serious.
"Please don't tell him," Winn begged now not feeling all so confident.
"Guys, focus," Kara said to the two who took a second to collect themselves.
"Right, right, sorry. Anyway, turns out Mr. O'Reilly has been working from behind the scenes to oust Rudy for the past several years. To sum up, the two don't like each other," Winn explained.
"I'm almost there," Kara said as she spotted the university up ahead.
"Just hold up a second, Kara. J'onn's planning on impersonating O'Reilly to lure Rudy in so just stand by," Alex quickly explained as Kara came to a stop in the air.
"Where is he now?" Kara asked as she began x-raying the area, looking for J'onn's slightly different bone structure. But mixed in with all the other humans still hanging around at the university it was like looking for Waldo when everyone's where the same thing but with one slight difference.
"According to his tracker he's in the parking structure," Winn quickly answered after a few clicks of keyboard keys.
"Winn!" Alex snapped again.
"Sorry, sorry. I couldn't help myself," Winn said, Kara could picture that by the tone of his voice he was holding his hands up in the air.
"I see him," Kara said as she spotted J'onn's unique skeleton structure as well as one more. "And he's got company," she added before shooting across the air and into the parking structure. As she suspected it was in fact Rudy. She landed on the ground just as he finished threatening the disguised J'onn before both turned to Kara.
"You're sick, Rudy. You need to come with me," Kara said calmly. She wanted to fight, to let off some of her anger and hurt. But it wasn't the right thing to do. It wasn't what Supergirl or Kara Danvers would do. No matter how much Kara Zor-El wanted too. She had to give him a chance.
"Not before we drain him," Rudy said as he turned back to J'onn.
"Well, I'm afraid Mr. O'Reilly isn't on the menu tonight," J'onn said before he shifted back into his true Martian form, startling Rudy. "This planet doesn't take too kindly to parasites," J'onn said as he stepped over to join Kara, folding his arms as he did.
"This planet is dying," Rudy snarled. "And We've been chosen to save it!" With that Rudy then swung for Kara but she blocked it and side stepped out of his way to avoid another attack. However J'onn was still in range so he tackled him, shoving him away as he toppled backwards onto the floor. Before Rudy had a chance to grab him though, Kara yanked on his collar and sent him flying across the car park. He slammed into a pillar near a ramp that lead to the next floor and then crumpled to the ground.
Now this was what she need. An out let. Someone to take her emotions out on. He tried to run but Kara was faster. Racing over and kicking him while he was still down. He flipped through the air, landing at the top of the ramp, on the next floor. Again Kara ran over to him, eager to let out more of her built up anger. She held up her clenched fist and threw it down towards Rudy but to her shock he caught her punch.
He didn't even flinch, only grin wildly as Kara began to feel her strength leave her. She was struggling to stay on her feet as the purple energy moved from her and into Rudy who sat up. Finally she was just too weak to hold on and dropped to her knees as Rudy stood up. He let go of her hand, grabbing her throat and holding her up and he continued to drain her.
J'onn ran forwards to help but Rudy grabbed him too and started draining the Martian also. As he began to reel in the new power, his body began to change. His skin darkened, turning almost purple and his flesh began to wrinkle as he doubled in size. His cloths were ripped from his body as he stood over the Kryptonian and the Martian. Holding them down while he continued to drain the life from them.
His body was now glowing with purple energy, so much more powerful than he'd ever been before. Kara and J'onn continued to struggle against his hold but with the increase of his power and decrease of their own it was only getting harder. They were ever struggling to breathe now, their lungs just barely able to hold on.
Kara gritted her teeth and tried to find strength from anywhere but nothing was coming up. She tried using her emotions. Her anger, her hurt, her loneliness but none of it was good enough. Even her emotions were worthless it seemed. No wonder her daughter left her. She felt tears begin to well up in her eyes, thought of never seeing Deity again making her so very scared.
Then she heard the roar of a car engine from behind as well as the screeching of tires coming to a stop. Next came the sound of doors opening and closing before gun fire filled the air.
Finally Kara and J'onn were released, gasping for air as they both collapsed onto the ground. Kara managed to look up and saw Parasite flying away as the bullets bounced off him in all directions.
"Stand down! Stand down!" Lucy called as she ran over to Kara and J'onn. "You alright?" Lucy asked as Kara looked over her shoulder to the co-director. She nodded, too tired to speak. Then they both looked to J'onn and saw his grey almost lifeless skin.
"J'onn? J'onn," Lucy said as she shook her partner. Nothing. "Agent down!" Lucy called to the others. "Tell agent Danvers to prep the med bay!" Lucy ordered as two agents ran over to pick up J'onn. While they did that Lucy helped Kara up and over to the car, she was in no condition to fly.
Standing over J'onn's body, Lucy had never been more thankful he'd listened to her. She'd suggested a couple of months back that he donate blood so that if he ever needed a blood transfusion then they'd have something to give him. And since that was what he needed now it was a good thing he'd agreed to it.
He had been hesitant at first, for obvious reasons. He didn't want his blood falling into the wrong hands or being used to experiment with. So Lucy had come up with the idea that it be kept in the D.E.O. building in National City and that only those J'onn chose could know the code to get his blood. So basically Lucy and Alex.
But even with the blood flowing into his Martian veins, his recovery was moving far too slowly for Alex's liking and Lucy could see it on her face. Luckily Kara wasn't as bad. She seemed to have recovered quickly but her powers were still weakened from the drain. She wasn't as strong as normal or as fast and her heightened senses weren't working. If she went up against Parasite in this state then Lucy knew she'd have a hard time, considering he now basically had all her powers and some of J'onn's to boost. They needed a new plan.
"These things are useless!" Kara suddenly shouted angrily as she knocked one of the solar laps and sent it flying towards the wall. Since Deity wasn't around to give her yellow sunlight whenever she needed it, they were stuck with the weak and slow solar laps that had been set up around Kara.
"They take time to work," Alex pressed as she rested her hand on Kara's shoulder, trying to get her to calm down.
"What if Rudy attacks again. I haven't got time to sit her with these-these-these stupid things!" Kara snapped as she knocked over another lamp.
"I'm sorry, Kara. But it's the best thing we have," Lucy pointed out as she stood opposite the frustrated Kryptonian.
"Well then you need something better. These things are rubbish," Kara grumbled as she glared at the nearest lamp.
"Well, it's all we've got. So take it or leave it," Lucy said flatly. She was angry at Kara for not acting more professional. She understood she was going through some things, but they all had to deal with Deity's sudden departure and they had more important things to worry about, like the fact that J'onn was probably going to be out of the next few hours.
"I need something stronger. I need something brighter. I need-"
"Debby?" Lucy cut in as Kara looked up to her with wide angry eyes. Lucy was tired of this. She needed Kara to be thinking straight and if that meant tough love then that was fine with her. J'onn wasn't here and she needed to take charge before Kara lost it completely.
"She's gone. I get it, it sucks. Hurts like hell. I felt a similar thing when I broke up with James and he moved here without me-And yes I know that's not the same thing, but Kara. You have to stop thinking about this. Just for now. And then you need to let it out. I know that's not fair to ask but that's what I need you to do." Kara pushed of the table she was sat on and marched over to Lucy who did her best not to waver in the face of the overpowering Kryptonian.
"Why do I need to do it?" Kara snapped. "After everything I've done for everyone in this city, after I saved the world! What am I left with? Uh? My daughter wants nothing to do with me," Kara cried.
"She never said that," Lucy argued.
"Well it sure feels like it," Kara cut in as her whole body flared angrily. "I've been abandoned too many times now. My parents. Kal... Debby."
"She hasn't abandoned you," Lucy said pointedly as she nodded over to Alex who had been watching the argument silently. "Your sister hasn't. I haven't. James and Winn haven't. J'onn hasn't," Lucy said as her own anger flared when she pointed to J'onn who was laid down on a bed with a blood drip attached to his arm.
"We're still here, Kara. And I am...I am really sorry that Debby left. But you can't just bottle everything up, you can't just keep holding it all in otherwise..." A look of realization took over Lucy as she paused, her eyes going wide as both Kara and Alex frowned at her in confusion. "You'll explode," Lucy finished.
"I know how we can beat Rudy," Lucy said as Kara and Alex stared back at her, waiting for the explanation.
"I do not support this plan," Alex said from down the line as Kara flew across the city, her target in sight as air rushed by.
"It's going to work," Lucy pressed.
"This is how Chernobyl happened," Alex argued.
"This won't be Chernobyl," Lucy said as reassuringly as she could.
For Kara she didn't particularly care in that moment. She was still angry from the argument with Lucy. Not precisely at Lucy but at the whole situation. She was hurting and that hurt was turning to anger. She was ready to end this and ready to give this parasite something he couldn't hold. She was ready to see him explode.
She raced into the National City power plant on the outskirts of the city and quickly grabbed what she needed before racing back into the city. Alex fed her the location of Rudy and Kara darted through the city streets before landing down the street for the monstrous purple parasite that had taken over Rudy.
"Rudy!" Kara called out and the Parasite turned its head from the smashed up limo. Kara could see inside a business man frantically trying to get of the crushed door. He wasn't her concern. She had more important people to save than some guy in a suit. She had a city to save.
"It's feeding time," Kara said as the Parasite roared and charged towards her, arms held out and ready to grab her. "Let's see you feed on this," Kara said as she pulled out the plutonium she'd taken from the power plant. Holding a piece in each hand she let Parasite grab her hands only to then absorb the plutonium instead.
Unable to stop, the Parasite screamed in pain at the energy it began to drain. It was too much, so much that it couldn't handle it. It began flailing around, trying to pull its hands from the plutonium but Kara advanced on it, pushing the plutonium against his chest as she shoved him to the ground. "You picked the wrong day to mess with me," Kara snarled as she held the plutonium down.
The Parasite continued to grow and grow, screaming as his limbs started to stretch too far. He screamed and scream but Kara continued to hold down the plutonium. She needed this. Need to make someone hurt as badly as she was hurting.
Her eyes suddenly widened as fear flashed through her mind.
What was she doing? This wasn't her. She never needlessly made people suffer. She finally heard the painful deadly screams of Parasite and pulled away the plutonium. Then with a gasp of relief, Parasite went limp and his eyes closed. For a brief moment Kara feared she'd killed him in her anger but then she saw his body begin to shrink. His skin returned to its normal colour and after a few seconds Rudy was back to looking like Rudy.
Kara sighed, clutching the plutonium in her hands. She'd almost gone too far. She'd almost done something she swore she'd never do again. Just because she was hurting didn't give her the right to hurt others. It hadn't been Rudy's fault he'd been infected and hopefully now the D.E.O. would be able to help him. But who was going to help her? Kara wondered.
Kara walked into her apartment after helping Alex and Lucy tie up all the los ends with Parasite. The plutonium had been the hardest thing but Lucy said she had it under control and that whoever she was answering to would understand. Kara had seen J'onn coming to but she didn't feel like talking to him. She wanted to be alone. Alex had offered to come over but Kara refused.
Now looking around the empty apartment, Kara was starting to perhaps reconsider Alex's offer. It was so quiet. It'd been like this for months but somehow she was only now noticing it. The place had been so much more alive when Deity was around.
With a heavy sigh, she dropped her bag by the door and made her way over to the fridge, pulling out a bottle of wine. It was times like this she wished she could get drunk, but she'd settle for the taste of the alcohol. She poured herself a glass and took a sip before she heard the phone ring.
Guessing it was her sister, Kara contemplated answering before finally picking up the phone after the third ring. "Hello," Kara said tiredly into the phone as she stared down at her glass of wine.
"Well someone's had a hell of a day I'm guessing." Kara brightened a little as she stood up straight; the sound of an old friend was always a nice thing to hear.
"Barbara," Kara said with as much excitement as she could muster up.
"Long time no see. Have I caught you at a bad time?"
"Sort of," Kara admitted as she leaned down the counter.
"Let me take a stab. Short little brunette ran off, you're feeling down because of it and miss her?" Kara's eyes widened in shock as she again straightened up.
"You really are the world's greatest detective," Kara said in astonishment.
"Nah. That title belongs to the big man. Plus I've got your daughter here," Barbara said as Kara tensed.
"She's with you?" Kara whispered tightly.
"Yeah," Barbara said feeling a little awkward for not telling Kara sooner.
"Can I speak to her?" Kara asked hopefully.
"She's asleep right now," Barbara answered as Kara's hopes and heart dropped.
"Oh..." Kara sighed disappointedly.
"Listen, Kara. There's something weird going on with Debby. I really think you should come here. She needs her mom."
"She doesn't need me," Kara said shaking her head. "That's why she left."
"No. She left because she's scared. You need to show her she doesn't have to be. So you can either get your butt over here to Gotham now, or I can come over there and drag you back here myself," Barbara said playfully as a smile formed on Kara's lips.
"I pretty sure I won last time," Kara pointed out.
"That's probably only because I beat you so badly you repressed the memory," Barbara teased as Kara finally laughed.
"Come on, Kara. She needs you. So just come over," Barbara pleaded. Kara looked down at her glass and sighed, but continued to smile. She couldn't turn down her friend and she really wanted to see Deity again. She didn't care what her reasons were for leaving, not in that moment at least. She just wanted to see her again, to hold her daughter.
"I'm on my way," Kara said as she poured the wine into the sink.
In the cold and dark cell, Deity was curled up in the corner whimpering. She was so scared, so young. She didn't understand it. She was told this was going to make her feel better but the whole time she'd been screaming. How could anything that hurt so much be good for you?
Light suddenly flooded into the cell as the old rusted door slide open. Shielding her face, Deity turned away from the light, remembering that last time she'd seen it she'd been taking into that horrible room. The ones with all the tools they'd used on her.
"Deity," the voice sang as a silhouette stepped into the room. Deity didn't dare look up. She didn't want to see who it was. "Deity," the voice repeated lightly as the figure took another step towards her. "Come on, Deity. It's me." Slowly Deity peeked out from in between her fingers, just to have a look at the figure. Her eyes were still adjusting to the blinding light but she could make out the woman's green eyes and blonde hair. So soft, so loving. Deity cried out as she suddenly threw herself at the woman, arms wrapping around her desperately.
"Oh! There, there," the woman said soothingly as she stroked Deity's hair with one hand while the other rested on her back. "It's okay. I've got you."
"It hurt...it hurt so much," Deity cried into the woman's shoulder.
"I know, I know. But you were so brave. So very brave and I am so proud of you."
"I...I...I want to go home," Deity begged as she pulled away, looking the woman in her emerald green eyes that were the same level as hers.
"I know," she said as she brushed Deity's messy strands of hair out of her face. "But not yet. Not until we're finished here," the woman explained with a brave smile which Deity couldn't return.
"Please!" Deity cried.
"I'm sorry." She sounded like she actually meant it too.
"Please! Please! Please!" Deity continued to scream as the woman pulled her into another hug, letting Deity clutch on for dear life as she buried her face in the woman's shoulder again, letting her blonde hair fall over and protect her from what was really going on.
"It's okay. I've got you. You're safe," the woman said soothingly as she ran her hand down Deity's back making soothing noises as Deity continued to cry.
Deity wasn't sure how long the dream went on for, but it felt like she had been crying into that woman's shoulder for hours before she finally woke up. She looked around the dark room she was in, the curtains flowing as the wind blew in, curtsy of the open window.
She sat up, rubbing her eyes with the palms of her hands. She wasn't sure if it had just been a dream or another memory flash. She had seen the woman before in her memory flashes but this one had felt different. Since leaving she had a number of dreams involving the mysterious woman with the blonde hair and the green eyes. So many that it was starting to become hard between telling if it was a dream or a memory flash.
Throwing off the covers to her bed, Deity made her way towards the bedroom door, slowly opening it. She just wanted to get a snack and something to drink. She didn't want to bother a potentially sleeping Alfred and Barbara. After all she was a guest; it wasn't fair to keep them up all night with her problems.
But as she soon found there was one flaw with her plan. She didn't know where the kitchen was. She'd seen around the Batcave and had a pretty good idea where she was going from there but hadn't been shown around the house. So she wondered, in hopes of getting her mind of recent troubles.
She walked through several corridors, all lined with works of art or sculptures. Some of it she thought was nice and other pieces she counldn't understand why anyone would want them in their home. She'd never really been good with art, at least not human art. It was such a confusion subject. How something one person did was considered art but if another person did it was considered a joke. Then again maybe she just didn't understand it because she'd never listened in art class. But in her defence, it was really boring.
Finally she heard the voice of Barbara from down the stairs. She reached the top of the stairs and was about to call out for help when she heard her say one very important sentence. "Plus I've got your daughter here." She was turned away from Deity, facing the old door which Deity presumed was the front exit. She hadn't even noticed Deity was here, which was bad considering who she was talking too.
Deity listened as Barbara tried to convince Kara to come. She wished Barbara wouldn't but she wasn't surprised when Kara agreed to come. Her mother might have been ready to see her again, but Deity wasn't ready to see her. There was still so much she had to work out, how to explain War World what she did, why she did it. She couldn't face her not now.
When she saw Barbara put the phone down she fled back to her room at super speed. Quickly she packed up her stuff that Alfred had been kind enough to sort away for her. She couldn't risk seeing Kara; she couldn't take it if she turned her away. But she now knew there was only one other place she could go. Not Sanctuary or the Fortress. Not Metropolis or Gotham. Not National City or anywhere on this world. She needed time and she needed people who knew her but would understand what she was going through. Barbara had been good but she knew someone better, someone who had killed like her and had evolved into someone so much more than just a killer. That's who Deity needed. She needed to go to Earth-1.
Gia was staring hard at the chessboard in front of her. She couldn't get over just how complex the game was, how someone could make so many different moves. There was so many ways the game could go, different outcomes that led to different strategies, how the entire game could chance with just one move. It was almost like life in the sense.
"You've been staring at that board for hours." Gia raised a delicate eyebrow and raised her head to look over to Ruby who was leaning against the wall, arms folded and blowing her red fringe from her face.
"Is that a problem?" Gia asked carefully as Ruby looked over to her. The boredom was clear in her eyes but something was stopping her from speaking her thoughts. The two stared between each other for a while before Ruby looked away, sighing in defeat as she did.
"No." Gia smiled. "Good." She then returned her attention to the chessboard. She reached out, running her fingers over the fragile pieces that had been set out on the board. With her powers she could break them all with the slightest touch. But that wasn't the game and coincidently it wasn't their plan either.
She looked up once more when she saw two figures entering from the far off doorway. She smiled; glad to see her friends return.
"Welcome back, I assume it was a success," Gia said as she stood up from the fancy chair she'd occupied.
"Of course," Kem said cheerfully as he held out his arms for emphasis. "Just like all the others. Nothing to it," he continued as he and Wes came to a stop before Gia who had stepped out from behind the table that held her chessboard.
"Excellent," Gia said with a pleased smile as her brown eyes shone.
"There was one problem," Wes pointed out solemnly. Gia's face hardened and she noticed that Kem sighed under his breath; he'd been hoping to avoid this discussion.
"What?" Gia all but growled as she locked her gaze on Kem, excepting him to answer since he'd been trying to avoid the topic. Kem shot Wes an irritated glare from the corner of his eye before looking back to Gia, the shine in her eyes having turned hard.
"Deity was there," Kem said quietly.
"What?" Gia hissed. "I thought she ran off."
"Apparently she ran off to Gotham," Kem said. He might not have meant any disrespect but Gia sure as hell took it that way. She advanced on Kem who straightened up immediately as she threatened to silence him with just one glare.
"What does she know?" Gia demanded in a low voice.
"Nothing," Kem said with certainty. "She was with Batgirl. We must have tripped an alarm and they got there just as we were finishing," he explained, hoping Gia would understand.
Still glaring at him, Gia raised her hand and Kem, grimaced expecting the worst but then felt nothing. He looked back up to Gia too see her eyes looking elsewhere and her focus on something else.
"Where do you think you're going?" Gia demanded. Kem stepped aside, along with Wes, giving Gia a clear line of sight towards Ruby who had moved from the wall and had been making her way towards the door. Only now she was froze, muscles tensed and slightly trembling as they tried to fight the force that was holding them in place.
"I need some air," Ruby said without turning around, simply because she couldn't. Gia had her locked in the position she was in. Her legs parted, back one about to lift off while the front was firmly planted on the ground. She'd been stopped in mid walk.
"Did I give you permission to leave?" Gia snarled as she stepped forwards, her leopard heels clicking on the tiles below as she did.
"No," Ruby said slowly with frustration in her voice.
"Well then." Gia then threw her hand to the side, letting her curled fingers fly open as Ruby was sent flying back towards the wall she'd been originally leaning against. She hit the wall with such force that the whole room shook before she dropped onto the ground, clutching her forehead that had hit the wall first.
"You can just wait there until you're ready to ask politely," Gia said before turning her attention back to the other two Hybrids in the room. Ruby remained down on her back, clutching her head. She knew better than to ask now or even get up. When Gia got like this there was only one person who could calm her down. And since he wasn't here it was better for her to stay down for a while.
"Where are the others?" Gia demanded.
"Still in the cities you sent them to," Kem answered.
"Do we know everything we need to get started?" The way Gia spoke really only left Kem with one option as an answer, unless he wanted to end up like Ruby.
"Yes."
"And you're sure Deity knows nothing about what we're doing?" Gia demanded, her anger flaring as she stepped towards Kem, entering his personal space once more.
"Positive. It was just a coincidence she was there," Kem said as confidently as he could.
"Well, you better be right," Gia said as she forced herself to smile. "Because if you're wrong, you're gonna end up just like Felix." Gia paused as she leaned into Kem's ear to whisper, knowing full well everyone in the room could hear her. "Only I'm not going to stop like that pathetic excuse for a Hybrid did. Oh, no. I'm going to keep going until there's nothing left of you." And Kem knew she meant it.
"Tell them to start the collection," Gia ordered as Kem let out a breath he'd been holding in.
Message for you:
So that's the conclusion to the Parasite arch for now, but on the upside Barbara's back and I still love writing her. She'll be around for a few more chapters but sadly Deity's going to be gone for a while. But I promise you guys, this is leading to something you'll all enjoy...when it's finished.
Also, very important bit here, DarkElements10 has now uploaded her half of the Supergirl Flash crossover! So if you head over to her story 'Fuel to the Fire' you'll be able to read about what happened to Kara and Debby while on Earth-1. It's chapter 43-44 or if you want to find out how Barry and Cadence got started then read 'Flash Fire'! Enjoy!
Review Replies:
Guest: Thank you, I'm happy to see your enjoying the story!
Baratta Jennifer: Looks like he had a little too much.
Dnmann: Well, Kara knows at least...
DarkElements10: Hopefully there were less muck ups in this one.
Geovanny: Glad to see your still having a good time! And yes, Kara is having a hard time with the absence of her daughter and you would be a very kind person to be there for her. Unfortunately, you just missed her as she's off to Gotham.
And please, if you have time, leave a review as it does help motivate me and it's always nice to hear what you guys are thinking. And if you have any questions then please, do ask. I do my best to respond to every review.
See you soon, RC.
