Chapter 12
Leo was stood in the center of the training room, a new driver attached to his waist. This one was light blue in color and had what appeared to be a tank connected to where a Fullbottle would go. It also had a wrench like lever on the right side. In Leo's right hand was the new Crocodile Fullbottle. From the viewing area of the training room, Hank, Alex, Astra and Kara were watching with interest. Leo had asked them here to witness him testing out the new driver, touting as something that would allow him to match the power of the hazard trigger.
"So, this is supposed to be some sort of upgrade for Build?" Hank asked.
"This is the Sclash Driver. You could think of it like the next stage of project Build. In short, it's meant to draw out greater powers from the Fullbottles. It works on a different concept than the Build driver that used half bodies to channel the power of the bottles. The core of it all is this brand-new Crocodile Crack Bottle." Leo explained holding up the bottle in his hand.
"How is that different to a normal Fullbottle? I mean I saw you creating it out of a regular Fullbottle after all." Alex remarked.
"This Fullbottle was distilled from the original Crocodile Fullbottle. By distilling the contents of the bottle and converting it into a jelly, then combining it with the compounds found within the Hazard trigger, more power can be drawn out. This should in theory and by measurements create a System that will match or exceed the Hazard Trigger without the drawbacks. Since my hazard level won't be rising so rapidly, the impulses won't drive me berserk." Leo answered.
"So, let's see this new suit of yours!" Kara said excitedly.
"Danger." The Crocodile Fullbottle announced when Leo turned the green cap.
"Crocodile." The driver announced when Leo placed the bottle in the slot. He hit the wrench and arms extended towards the Crocodile Fullbottle. The red crack marks appeared on the Fullbottle before purple liquid started flowing into the tank. It only managed to flow halfway to the tank before Leo started to fold in half when powerful electric shocks surged through his body. He was sent to the ground, his body twitching every so often.
"Leo! Let go of me. I have to see if he's okay." Kara shouted worriedly, wanting to rush inside there to see if he was okay but she was being stopped by Hank and Alex.
"Agent Titus is fine. This isn't the first time he's experienced backlash from something from project Build exceeding what his body can handle." Hank assured.
"What do you mean this isn't the first time this happened? He was in so much pain Alex!" Kara said, her eyes wet with unshed tears. Inside the training room, Leo had recovered and was now standing once more, his breathing heavy.
"It happened with the Dragon Fullbottle as well. Despite having found the correct combination for it, his body couldn't handle the strain of it at first. We attributed it to the essence itself fighting against him. Eventually he was able to train enough to where it no longer became a problem though." Alex responded.
They turned their eyes back to Leo who had finally managed to regulate his breathing. He cranked the wrench again. His body was shocked once again but he weathered through it as a beaker filled with purple liquid appeared around his body.
"Crushed, Consumed, Cracking! Crocodile in Rogue! Oraa!" The Sclash Driver announced. Crocodile Jaws rose from the ground, cracking the beaker before Leo was covered in purple armor with white highlights. The crocodile jaws around his helmet then closed down, causing white lines like cracks o appear as well as the eyes.
"It worked?" Kara asked, finally getting finally reigning in her worry now that Leo had successfully managed to transform.
"I think so. I guess this form is called Rogue huh. Interesting. I wonder what…" Leo started, flexing his hands and moving around to get used to the feel of the suit before his body was once again subject to painful electrical shocks. He fell to his knees in pain, pulling off the Sclash driver and throwing it aside before rolling onto his back.
"Leo!" Kara shouted as worry filled her once more. This time she rushed in without a second though, cradling Leo's body to hers as he was trying to regulate his breathing and let the pain pass.
"I'll recover. I wasn't expecting that much shock from the Sclash driver and the Crocodile Crack. I'll need time to adapt to it." Leo commented, looking at the Sclash Driver that he had tossed aside.
"Is it really necessary? Why do you need this power for? You're already strong enough as Build. Why do you need to put yourself through so much pain for this?" Kara questioned, her eyes once more wet with tears that threatened to spill.
"Kara, if there was a way to avoid this pain I would. Seeing you so sad because of me is more painful than any shock from the rider system. But this is necessary. This power is needed so I can continue to protect everyone I care about. We've already had to rely on the Hazard Trigger twice. With this alternative, I know I can fight with you without fearing that I'll hurt you." Leo answered, recovering enough to where he could stand, pulling Kara up with him.
"Agent Titus, are you certain this is viable?" Hank asked, picking up the Sclash Driver and studying it carefully.
"I'm certain. I just need to keep pushing my body so that it can adapt to the strain of using it. I don't know how long it'll be before I can deploy with it though. If you don't mind, I'll be taking that now and heading home. Getting shocked is not a fun experience." Leo said, taking the drive from Hank and hobbling away towards his lab. Kara was quick to rush to his side, putting his arm over her shoulder and supporting his body as they walked towards his lab.
"Hey sis! Come on in." Kara said, opening the door for Alex when she arrived at her loft. It was the weekend and Leo was currently in Washington to finalize Astra's pardon. Kara had invited Alex over for some sister bonding time.
"I've got potstickers, brownies and a bunch of other goodies. All that's left is to put on a movie and chill." Alex said, setting down the many bags of food on the counter. Kara helped her get the food onto plates and placed them on the coffee table. She was just pouring herself a drink before Alex who was seated on the couch called for her.
"Kara, I think you need to see this." Alex said. Kara came over to the couch and Alex motioned for her to look at the TV. Her mouth dropped open in shock when she realized that Supergirl was on the screen, picking up a car that was dangling from a bridge before dropping it to the ground without a care for the occupants before flying away.
"How is that… what the hell is going on?" Kara said in shock, Alex mirroring her expression. Despite her adopted sister's powers, she knew for a fact that Kara couldn't be in two places at once. The two could only stare in shock at what had just transpired on the screen and what it would mean.
"An alien doppelganger?" Alex suggested. Hank, Leo, Alex, Astra and Kara were currently inside the DEO discussing the presence of a second Supergirl. Leo had just returned from Washington DC with Astra after securing her conditional pardon.
"Not likely. I think we can rule out possible alien activity. A hostile alien would probably just go directly for Supergirl. This could be something far more sinister." Hank said.
"I have a strong suspicion it's Maxwell Lord's doing. I've been doing some snooping around. He's had seven women sent to one of his facilities. All of whom were supposedly brain dead. In addition to that, I discovered that he's been playing around with your DNA Kara. I didn't think much about it since I didn't think he would be able to do anything with your kryptonian genetics and there were far more unscrupulous activities of his that I was looking into." Leo said, brining up several files on the screen.
"Wait, you didn't think to tell me he was playing with my DNA? And what could be worse than him playing around with my DNA?" Kara questioned in annoyance that Leo had hid this from her.
"You remember the bomber that attacked Lord tech? The one with an ill daughter? I found this." Leo answered, bringing up footage of Maxwell threatening the bomber's daughter so that he would carry out the attacks as designated by Maxwell.
"It could be that his endgame is to replace Kara with someone he can control. It would make sense. Create someone that would force Supergirl to get involved study her actions so you could create a clone of her by injecting what is essentially a cadaver with kryptonian DNA that can perfectly replace her." Astra pointed out.
"Maxwell Lord needs to be locked away." Kara said, anger leaking through her voice.
"Working on that. Unfortunately, still a work in progress. The guy is well connected. Any case against him has to be more solid than a concrete block to have any chance of having him be put away. Also, using the information we have against him will undoubtedly bring the DEO to public light. Something we dearly need to avoid." Leo remarked.
"So, we just let him go free? He's used 7 people for experiments. Used my DNA to create some clone of me and caused the death of an innocent man by threatening his daughter!" Kara protested.
"We don't we make sure that he get's put away for good. Like I said, I've been working on it. We need to find out what exactly is going on with this doppelganger of yours. If we can really implicate him in this then we can either get him to sing to our tune or destroy him in the eyes of the public." Leo countered. Kara stormed off towards his lab, Leo following after her. Once they were alone in the lab and the privacy mode was activated, Kara's shoulders slumped as she let the weight of the situation hit her. Leo was quick to bring him into a hug.
"How could he? All those lives he destroyed. All to get at me." Kara said, her voice cracking with the anguish she felt at all the people Maxwell Lord had used.
"We will stop him Kara. I promise. Do not blame yourself. Men like him are fools who crave power in excess." Leo soothed, placing a kiss on the top of her head and rubbing her back.
"So, once he manages to get me out of the way he intends to turn his pet kryptonian against the world?" Kara asked.
"Maybe. But you underestimate your power Kara. You have the ability to instill hope. To sway the people. A power that people like Maxwell Lord will always covet and be jealous of. For they always want to be seen as the only symbol for people to aspire towards." Leo said.
"You're right. There's no use crying about it now. We need to stop whatever he's planning so he can't ruin anymore lives. But all we can do now is wait for the double to show up. You know you never told me what all the clauses for Aunt Astra's pardon were." Kara mentioned, settling herself into his lap.
"The main clause is that she has to help the DEO out. The second clause is that she doesn't get access to her powers except in situations defined by myself or Hank. The third clause is that I, that is to say both us, have to act as her guides and help her integrate into society." Leo answered her. They were distracted however by an alarm going off on Leo's screen. Kara got up and studied the monitor, to understand what had triggered the alarm.
"There's a tram that's stuck. We should go." Kara said.
"You go on ahead first. Your double might appear and we don't know what her reaction to meeting you will be. I'll go find Astra and we'll meet you there." Leo said. Kara nodded and headed off towards the site of the disaster while Leo went to find Astra, briefing her of the situation before they both headed to where the stuck tram was.
"The double is here. What do we do?" Astra asked when both arrived at the scene. Supergirl and the imposter were locked in combat above the tram.
"Let Kara focus on handling the imposter. We need to get the tram to safety. Their fight is going to cause it to fall off the bridge. Kara get the double away from the tram. Me and Astra will work on saving the people onboard the tram." Leo said over the comms. Kara gave a grunt of acknowledgement, pushing her doppelganger away from the tram.
"It seems precariously unstable. How do we rescue the people?" Astra asked, noticing that the supports were about to give way any second.
"We have no choice, I'll push the tram off the bridge, you hold up the other end and we'll bring it to safety." Leo said. Astra nodded and they were able to safely move the Tram off the bridge before the supports collapsed. They placed the tram safely on another part of the tracks, both waving to the people onboard before they saw Kara flying towards them. They joined her in the air, taking note that the imposter had disappeared.
"She was as strong as me. But something's wrong with her. Her skin, it was cracking, almost like a vase would. And her eyes… they turned black." Kara remarked as they flew back toward the DEO.
"It could be that her DNA isn't completely stable. I don't think you can make a kryptonian out of a human after all." Astra commented.
"Did you get anything else about her? Like how strong she is or what her abilities are?" Leo asked.
"She seems to have the same powers as me. She couldn't really match me blow for blow but her hits felt as strong as mine. And we know she can fly." Kara responded. Leo stayed silent contemplating their next move as they returned to the DEO for a debrief of their encounter with the imposter.
"So, you and Alex went to confront Maxwell Lord today? How did that go?" Kara asked as he walked with her through CatCo towards where Astra was waiting for them with the car.
"In my defense, Alex was the one who wanted to confront him. I somehow got dragged into. To be fair though, I was a little groggy from using the Sclash driver." Leo complained.
"Oh, my poor fiancé. Did my mean big sister bully you?" Kara said teasingly, giving Leo a pat on his cheek.
"Not funny. Anyway, he indirectly admitted to his crime of creating your double, which Hank has decided to call Bizarro now. He called you a threat and claimed that Bizarro is humanity's guardian. Load of crap. Like I said, he wants to use your image to his own gain. Hank has decided to bring out kryptonite ordnance against Bizarro the next time she turns up." Leo said, Kara's brow furrowing in disagreement as they reached the car.
"But why? That could kill her! She's innocent in all this. We should be going after Maxwell Lord." Kara said.
"The loss of Bizarro's life is an unfortunate byproduct of Maxwell Lord's meddling. Me and your mate tested the capability of human DNA to bond with kryptonian DNA after learning how Maxwell created Bizarro. We learnt that although possible, the product of such a fusion is highly unstable. Breaking down at an alarming rate. Bizarro by our estimates only has at most a week left to live. The pain she feels as her body continues to break down will eventually drive her insane and turn her into a mindless beast." Astra said sadly.
"It's why her skin started showing cracks when you fought her. The more she uses her powers, the faster the breakdown happens. Ending Bizarro would be a mercy and it means we don't have to deal with a mindless rampaging kryptonian. I've been sneaking around Maxwell's offices and his labs gathering whatever evidence I have. Once we deal with Bizarro, I will make sure he stays firmly out of our lives." Leo promised as they got into the car.
"As much as discussing the topic of Bizarro is important, I would like to know where we are going." Astra asked as she settled into the back seat.
"Well first we're going to go see your new apartment. The place where you'll be staying at. Can't have you staying at the DEO forever. After that we're going to be going shopping before we have a nice dinner. Think of this as congratulations for getting the pardon outing." Leo said, starting the car and driving towards Kara's apartment building. He parked the car then led them to an apartment that was on the floor below Kara's.
"This will be your place Aunt Astra. Mine is just one floor above this. I thought about having you stay with me but we thought it would get kind of awkward considering Leo stays over quite often." Kara admitted as she led her aunt around the apartment.
"No need to explain little one. I would not think you and your mate would be comfortable if we were to stay together. Though it is nice that we are in the same building. What surprises me though is that you and your mate are not living together completely." Astra pointed out as Kara showed her the bedroom and the kitchen.
"We're working on that actually. Leo's going to be moving here after we get married. He's working on getting an office and lab space nearer to here or where I work so that it's easier for us. That's why he hasn't given up his own place to move in here yet. Although it's rare that he doesn't stay here." Kara remarked as they completed the tour of the house.
"A nice place. Thank you very much for arranging this for me." Astra said to Leo.
"Think nothing of it. You're family. And family always sticks together. Now let's go shopping so we can be done in time for all you can eat ribs." Leo said, pushing both women out of the apartment.
"Wait, we're having all you can eat ribs for dinner? You're the best Leo!" Kara cheered, giving Leo a kiss before rushing off towards the car.
"Her excitement has now peaked my interest in this dinner." Astra said with mirth before she and Leo joined Kara at the car.
"This frozen treat is certainly amazing. Would you not care to have more of it?" Astra asked Leo who was walking with them down the crowded street. They had just finished their dinner where Astra and Kara had each devoured at least triple the amount of food Leo had eaten. This was after they had finished buying an entire wardrobe for Astra. After dinner, they decided to take a stroll and along the way, Leo had bought ice cream for the three of them. He had already finished his while Astra and Kara were currently on their second scoop.
"Unfortunately, not all us can be able to stuff our face with sticky buns every day and still stay so beautiful." Leo remarked, directing it particularly at Kara who huffed and turned away.
"I can't help it if they're good sticky buns." Kara countered. Their fun was interrupted however when a gust of wind blew past and a blurry object swooped past them, grabbing Kara and rocketing off with her into the distance.
"That was Bizarro! And she took Kara." Astra hissed. Leo deactivated the bracelet that restrained her powers and told her to go after Kara. Astra nodded and rushed into a nearby alley to change into the costume that Leo had designed for her. It was consisted of a black catsuit that had her house crest on the front. She followed after Bizarro and Kara while Leo contacted the DEO before he transformed and took off after them.
"Are you okay Kara?" Leo asked, helping Kara up. Both she and Astra were a little weakened from the presence of the Kryptonite that the DEO had used against Bizarro. However, Bizarro didn't react to it the same way a kryptonian would.
"I'm fine. But you were right. The more I fought her and the more she used her powers, the more she started becoming unhinged. And she seemed to be in pain too. We have to stop her." Kara said.
"First we have to find her. After that we have to find a way to beat her. The kryptonite didn't weaken her like it did to us. It only served to make her stronger. Speaking of which, we should work on recreating the kryptonite shield for the two of us." Astra brought up as they took to the air to head back to the DEO.
"Hand me the designs and I'll find a way to integrate it into your suits." Leo told her. They arrived at the DEO and headed to where Alex and Hank were. The two were already looking over the recording of the battle.
"It seems like Bizarro isn't as similar to Supergirl as we thought." Hank said.
"It's almost like a mirror image of Kara. Everything's the opposite. Rather than heat vision she has freeze vision. She doesn't have freeze breath but has fire breath instead." Alex pointed out.
"That could explain why kryptonite makes her stronger instead of making her weaker like it does to us." Astra remarked.
"Then we need to work on reversing the chemical composition of kryptonite to produce another form that will allow us to take Bizarro down." Hank said.
"I need to work on something in my lab. If you need my help on the kryptonite I'll get started on it once I'm done. Also, I'll see if I can find some way to track Bizarro." Leo said heading to his lab, Kara following quietly behind as she could feel the anger radiating off Leo. She couldn't take the silence once they reached his lab and so turned him around to face her.
"Leo, please tell me what's wrong? I can feel your anger. Don't do anything reckless please." Kara pleaded, placing her hands on his cheeks. Leo took a deep breath and took one of her hands in his.
"Kara, Bizarro attacked you when you weren't Supergirl. That means Maxwell Lord knows your secret identity. I wanted to do this the right way but I have no choice but to confront him and get him to back off." Leo said, pressing a button on his phone and showing Kara every piece of incriminating evidence that he had on Maxwell Lord.
"Whatever you do Leo, I trust you. But please, don't do anything that you'll end up regretting." Kara pleaded. Leo nodded before giving Kara a soft kiss and getting to work arranging his meeting with Maxwell Lord tomorrow.
Leo was on his way to meet Maxwell Lord before he came face to face with Bizarro. He could only mutter curses as he couldn't transform due to the people around. He tried to run but Bizarro was quicker, grabbing him by the collar and taking him away. She brought him to the abandoned power plant just outside of National City and handcuffed him to the pole. Leo waited with bated breath for any further action but there was none, Bizarro merely standing still some distance away from him. For a moment he wondered what had happened and moved to try to free himself from the cuffs only to stop as Bizarro growled at him angrily and told him not to move. She even blew fire at him in warning. Leo stayed still, hoping that Kara would somehow feel his emotions through their still developing bond or that someone would realize that he was gone and know to use his tracker.
"We have to go save Leo! Bizarro took him!" Kara said, worry tinting her voice as she rushed into the DEO.
"I am aware little one. I have already tracked your mate to the abandoned power plant just outside of National City. We are currently waiting on your sister to complete the blue kryptonite bullets that will hopefully take Bizarro down." Astra said, stopping Kara from freaking out. Alex rushed out of her lab carrying a magazine of light blue bullets.
"Astra can work on freeing Leo so he can transform. After that the three of you can work together to handle Bizarro and give me the opening I need to take the shot." Alex said. Kara nodded and flew with her sister towards the location, praying to every deity she knew that Leo was safe, Astra following close behind.
Kara dropped Alex off on the roof of the facility so she could get a good vantage point for the shot. Once Alex started moving into position and Astra was floating over the power station, waiting for her part, Kara dived in, landing in the center with a loud thud and glaring angrily at Bizarro.
"Bizarro! Let him go. It's me you want." Kara said, circling around Bizarro, making sure to slowly direct the clone away from Leo.
"Supergirl bad!" Bizarro growled out before she lunged at Kara. Kara braced to take the hit, hoping to catch Bizarro in a lock so she could keep the clone's focus on her. She wasn't expecting Bizarro to be so strong however to be able to break the lock and tackled her into the wall.
"You alright?" Astra said, landing next to Leo and using her heat vision to free him from his restraints.
"I've seen better days." Leo remarked, standing up and rubbing his wrists.
Astra handed him the Build Driver that he gratefully took from her, placing it on his waist and quickly transforming into his RabbitTank form. Astra dived for Bizarro who was chocking Kara, throwing the clone with as much force as she could manage into the ground. Kara took a moment to recover while her aunt kept up the assault. Charging Bizarro while the clone was still trying to recover, she executed a rapid series of jabs at the clone. The clone however recovered quickly, catching one of her hands and using the momentum to throw Astra into the far wall.
Leo took the opportunity to jump in, staggering the clone with rapid punches from the rabbit half body and strong hits from the tank half body. The attacks seemed to be working as Bizarro was staggering more and more with each attack as her body was exposed to more and more Nebula energy. Leo was forced to disengage however when Bizarro used her fire breath on him. Bizarro tried to use her freeze vision on Leo but Kara countered with her heat vision, the two rays cancelling each other out. Bizarro growled as it once more focused her attention on Kara.
"Not this time." Kara said sidestepping Bizarro and grabbing her arms before placing her in a body lock.
"Alex take the shot!" Leo shouted. The sound of gunfire rang through the air as five blue projectiles impacted Bizarro's body. Bizarro seemed to crumple and fell to the ground once Kara released her hold. Leo walked up to the fallen body of Bizarro, holding a black and silver handgun with yellow accents that had a Fullbottle slot.
"For what it's worth, I'm sorry you had to go through all this. May you rest in peace." Leo said, loading the phoenix Fullbottle into the handgun and pointing it at Bizarro. He looked away and pulled the trigger, a large burst of fire in the shape of a phoenix consuming Bizarro's body till there was nothing left.
"We will get Maxwell Lord for this somehow." Alex said, climbing down from the vantage point where she had taken the shot.
"He's mine." Leo said before he fired a black cloud from the handgun and disappeared.
"What's going on?' Maxwell Lord questioned as his office door was locked and the office light suddenly dimmed. When they came on again, Leo was in his office staring out the window.
"Maxwell Lord. You've hid much of your unsavory activities. But everything hidden will be revealed eventually." Leo said. Maxwell was surprised when his screen turned on and started displaying the various evidences of his crimes.
"What do you want? Money? Or is it something else? I can't believe someone like you would choose to marry an alien. Do you even know what your future wife is?" Maxwell shouted angrily.
"I am well aware. And I know you know as well. I don't want anything from you Maxwell. In exchange for not making all the information public, you will leave Kara and myself as well as all the people we care about alone. If you comply with that, then you can continue living as you are. If you don't well, things will change greatly for you." Leo said coldly.
"What's to stop me from revealing all I've learnt about her and ruining her life?" Maxwell questioned.
"Then it will be your word, against all this evidence which will be spread at the press of a button. Also, here's a little something to ensure your cooperation." Leo said, walking up to Maxwell and grabbing his wrist before pressing a needle into his arm.
"What did you do to me?" Maxwell questioned angrily, checking his arm and body for any effects but finding none.
"Call it insurance if you will. If you so much as think about revealing information on Kara, that serum I injected into you will either compel you to blurt out your deepest darkest secrets or cause you extreme pain that will make you want to kill yourself. And good luck trying to get rid of it. It's not detectable by any normal tech. You've been warned." Leo said before the room went dark once more. When the lights went on there was no one in the office aside from Maxwell Lord.
Tada! Teasing Leo's upgrade for season 2. I decided to go with Rogue as an upgrade since he matches the Hazard Forms and allows Leo to keep a versatile combat style. This is mostly to cover up for not having a RabbitTank Sparkling.
Another update for the week. I have season 2's story line sorted, as much as I didn't like the season in general. But I'm still torn on how to do season 3. So readers, please drop me a PM or a review to help me.
1) Should Sanvers stay together?
This is an important plot point and I'm leaning towards keeping them together. But if enough people feel I should make them split up like in the series I have my own ideas for that.
2) Should Kara and Leo have a surprise Baby?
I've worked out that this is possible but requires me to lengthen the gap between season 2 and 3 to about 1 year and 6 months instead of just six months. this is just a cute side of the story that I might consider adding in if enough readers feel I should.
3) Evolt or Mad Rogue
For Leo's earth X counterpart, should he be Evolt or Mad Rogue? This will have implications as if enough readers think I should do an Evolt then I'll push crisis on earth X back to post Reign.
4) Secondary Riders
I'm considering secondary riders but they'll only come after Leo gets his Genius form. Below are the options for secondary riders. I would like recommendations on who they should be. Some candidates I have in mind include Alex, Maggie and James.
Cross Z Charge with eventual transition to Magma.
Grease with eventual transition to Grease Blizzard.
Rogue
Till next update. And remember reviews and inputs on the above points mean you guys get faster updates! It really does go a long way in terms of motivation!