"Explain, Kent." Batman growled, causing every other hero in the room to wince. Not only was the Dark Knight's tone terrifying, but his use of Superman's secret identity never boded well.
"Well, everyone, this is my cousin, Kara." Nervously, Superman stepped fully into the room, the little girl following with a firm grip on his cape. "She crash landed on Earth last month, just like I did as a baby." If anything, the kid shrunk in on herself even more at those words.
"Wait, so, she's another Kryptonian?" Green Arrow asked in confusion. "How's that even possible?"
Superman gave a half hearted chuckle. "Well, it's a little unclear, but there's no doubt about it." He would have gone on, but another glare from Batman stole the words away. With a slight jerk of the head, the Dark Knight signaled the other hero to come over for a private word.
"So, um, excuse me for a second, Kara. It's okay, I promise." Superman assured her, easily disentangling the girl's hand from his cape before stepping away. She didn't move, aside from hunching her shoulders and staring pensively at the other Leaguers.
"What were you thinking? How can you have 'no doubt' about this child?" Batman hissed once he and the Kryptonian stood several feet away. Both Superman and Kara frowned simultaneously at his words, despite neither being able to see the other's face.
"I know you think this wasn't a good idea, but trust me on this: she is my cousin. The spaceship she came in had a message from a man named Zor-el, who my own records from my Kryptonian parents said was my uncle-"
"Blood aside, Kent, where did she come from? Your original planet was destroyed over twenty-five years ago, with - supposedly - no other survivors aside from you. So how did she come to land here now?"
While Batman chewed out his fellow hero, one of the others got over his bewilderment.
"Hi there, Kara. My name's Flash." The speedster knelt down and stuck out a hand. The kid blinked at it for a moment before tentatively reaching out her own. Just as her fingers curled for the shake, Superman turned around and caught sight of them.
"Wait a second, Fl-" His words were cut off by the crack, audible even to those without superhearing. Flash's face contorted in pain for a brief moment as he pulled the broken fingers out of Kara's frozen grip.
When the girl did find her voice again, it tumbled out fast and panicked. "I'm sorry, I'm so sorry! I didn't mean to- I'm still trying- I just can't seem to-"
"Whoa, hey, kid, Kara, it's fine, I'm fine!" Speaking almost as fast as the anxious child in front of him, Flash held up his already-mending bones for her to see. "I heal pretty quick, okay? Another few hours, it'll be like nothing happened."
The display did little to sooth Kara's fright, though, and as her breathing continued to get faster, the room started getting colder.
"Kara!" Getting over his shock, Superman swiftly flew forward and scooped up the girl. "Easy, little one; you have super-breath, remember? Gotta take it slow." He spoke easily, softly - to Batman's ears it seemed the man was repeating something he'd had to be told before. Unfortunately, Kara's condition only worsened, and she started sobbing.
"Ev-ry-thi-ing, I, do, i-is, dangerous!" Her voice rose to a wail on this last word, and the girl buried her head in her hands, oblivious to Superman's arms wrapped around her.
"No, no, Kara, you just need more time, more practice." He tried to calm her down, to no avail. The smaller Kryptonian started shaking even harder, but when she raised her face to look up at Superman, her eyes were glowing red.
"I told you I should be locked away! I told you!" Screaming now, laser beams shot out with the anger in Kara's words. Superman barely managed to jerk his head back in time to avoid being caught in them, but the Watchtower wasn't so lucky.
The lasers cut straight through the walls of the space station, releasing air and setting off several alarms. The sudden sirens and flashing lights caused Kara to jerk in fear, her heat vision slicing through more armored plating and into the control panels. J'onn tried to phase himself away from the damage, but an eruption of sparks and flame caught him anyway.
"Kent! Get your cousin under control!" Batman ordered, pulling out several pellets that were filled with a flame retardant. The other Leaguers hurried as well, trying to block the damage to the station and keep their artificial atmosphere from leaking away. Flash grabbed the groaning Martian and hurried him away to their medical bay as Batman started putting out the small fires.
Blinking in shock, Kara managed to turn off her heat vision, but Superman still moved her to one side of the room, out of the way.
"Can you- just, stay put?" He tried to ask. Kara nodded numbly, and watched as her cousin flew up and to the outer wall, using his own lasers to weld together the slashes she had made.
Seeing all the damage her new abilities caused... Within moments, Kara wobbled into the air, and took off out the door.
-C-
"So let me get this straight - while you all started freaking out and fixing the Watchtower, she slipped out the airlock and none of you noticed?!" Batgirl shook her head in disgust. "Some superheroes."
"Look," Batman growled, in a tone that had both her and Robin paying absolute attention. "What matters right now is that none of us can leave until all the systems are repaired and reset, which leaves the two of you to find this girl and keep her from doing anymore damage."
"Do... Do you want us to use the Kryptonite blaster?" Robin asked in a small voice. Knowing the trepidation behind it, Batman hesitated before answering.
"Take it with you, but only as a last resort. Kara's running scared, and while the blaster would be the most efficient way to stop her, I think you two have a decent chance at talking her down."
"Right. Any idea where we should start looking?"
"The last signal we were able to pick up before the sensor array caught fire indicating that she was heading for the North Pole."
"Why would- Oh, that Fortress place that Supes has set up, right?" Batman nodded to Robin's question. "So, um, how are we going to get there? The Batwing's still in the repair bay after Babs crashed it."
"I did not-! Ooh, nevermind. And don't call me Babs, Pixie-boots." The younger boy stuck a tongue out at her.
"Enough." Batman resisted the urge to sigh at his partners. "Go to the tech lab underneath Wayne Industries, and tell Lucius you need to use the Javelin prototype." That peaked both of their interests.
"What's the Javelin?"
"A new jet I've been designing for League use, capable of twice the speed of the Batwing and deep space travel. It's got the same basic controls - and as long as you stay within the atmosphere, you don't need to use anything else."
"Why are we only hearing about this now?" Batgirl demanded.
"Because I didn't want either of you sneaking it out for a joyride."
"Yeah, we've got jetpacks for that!" Robin still grinned in the face of his mentor's scowl.
"Just get going."
It wasn't until he cut the connection that Batman realized he hadn't specified how the two were supposed to go to the other base - by jetpack, motorcycle...
...Or if they were allowed to take the car or not.
